


Double Trouble

by PrincessCharming



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Crossing Timelines, F/F, Humor, Romance, Teen Angst, Time Travel Fix-It, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-10
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-08 02:20:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 72
Words: 297,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/755870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessCharming/pseuds/PrincessCharming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teenage versions of Emma and Regina appear in Storybrooke and to everyone’s surprise the girls hit it off immediately...</p>
<p>“We have to stop this, Emma,” warned Mary Margaret. “She can’t fall in love with the younger you. She has to meet Daniel and fall in love with him - his death starts it all. Or otherwise, Regina won’t grow up to cast the curse, Storybrooke won’t exist... and Henry will never be born!”</p>
<p>Swan Queen times two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meet-cute

" _The past is never where you think you left it."_  


― _Katherine Anne Porter_  


* * *

 

David's day went downhill rapidly when he had to go arrest his teenage daughter for shoplifting.

He turned up at Tom's grocery store where the cashier had called in a robbery in progress, apparently the "punk kid" was still in the store. David crept to the end of the aisle where he saw the back of a slight blonde girl stuffing packets of chips down her dress.

"Hey! Turn around slowly, kid," warned David, holding out his Deputy badge.

The girl whirled around - she wore black thick-framed glasses and dark red lipstick and had on a tartan dress over black tights and boots. She raised her hands, still holding fistfuls of chocolate bars.

"Listen, officer. I was totally gonna pay for all this stuff. With real money!" the girl said in a fake little-girl voice and put on wide eyes.

"Emma?!" said David incredulously.

"How'd you know my name," said the girl suspiciously, eyes darting around the store for an escape.

David looked at her more closely - she seemed young, a teenager in fact, and slightly shorter and skinnier than the 28 year old Emma that he knew. How was this possible?

"Emma, how old are you?" he asked carefully.

"I'm not telling you anything, cop."

The door bell jingled, signalling a customer and Emma used the distraction to push a metal display of boxes over with a clatter. She bolted for the door and disappeared down the street at a sprint.

David just rolled his eyes and went to the back exit...

Outside, teenager Emma Swan jogged down down the alley with her haul intact and checked over her shoulder a few times.

"Cops really are as dumb as they look," she scoffed to herself before turning back around...

...and she ran straight into a 6'4" brick-hard chest.

"Are we really?" said David with a raised brow. He grabbed her wrists, spilling the chocolate bars to the ground, and cuffed them together. "You're coming with me."

* * *

Emma made an obnoxious show of yawning behind the glass of the interrogation room at the Sheriff's station.

Mary Margaret stared through the glass and then looked back at David, shaking her head in disbelief. "David, what is going on here? Who _is_ that?"

"That's Emma. More or less."

"No. I saw Emma an hour ago. She brought Henry's lunch to school. It can't be her - it has to be someone in a magical disguise."

"There's only one way to find out," said David.

He opened the door to the interrogation room and entered with Mary Margaret following at his heels. Emma regarded them with blank boredom as the pair took seats opposite her at the table.

"Well if it isn't Mr and Mrs Deputy Sheriff. Yay," said the teen sarcastically.

Mary Margaret shot David a confused look. "Emma, you don't know who we are?"

"Um, no. Duh. Why would I?"

"Emma, how old are you?" David asked repeating his question from the store again.

"Why do you want to know?"

David gritted his teeth, losing patience with her backchat. "Answer me, young lady!"

"Seventeen," Emma said begrudgingly.

"Where are your parents?" asked Mary Margaret, trying to test out where the girl was from.

"Don't know. Don't care." Emma shrugged, looking at the corner of the ceiling as if it were interesting.

"Someone must be looking for you..."

"They'd better not be," said Emma darkly. "Or they'll regret it. I ran away. My asshole foster father did _this_ to me."

Emma yanked up the sleeve of her dress to reveal a row of pink puckering scars obviously caused by cigarette burns.

"Your foster parents... But what about your birth parents?" pressed Mary Margaret, feeling a pang of guilt at the state of her daughter.

Emma's face froze at the mention of them. "I'm done talking."

"Do you know where they are or-"

"I don't _want_ to know!" said Emma angrily. "They left me on the side of a road. If I saw them in the street today I'd walk right on past. Or spit in their faces."

Mary Margaret and David shared looks of guilt, shock, and dread at their apparent teenage daughter's anger toward them. Her older counterpart hadn't mentioned it but was she hiding it from them that she'd felt this way?

"Emma, how did you get to Storybrooke?" asked David.

Emma shrugged carelessly. "Dunno. Something weird happened. I was sleeping at the train station and then I was just here."

Mary Margaret looked at her sadly. "And you were stealing because you were hungry and alone."

* * *

David left his office where he'd made a couple phone calls, leaving a message on Emma's voice mail. He joined his wife who was sitting on the corner of the Deputy's desk.

"Um, Mary Margaret? Where's Emma?"

"Oh. I let her out. She had to go to the bathroom," said Mary Margaret, apparently as naive as she sounded.

David sighed making a noise more like a growl, and strode over first to check the empty interrogation room and then to kick open the door to the bathroom - also empty.

"She's gone," he said.

Mary Margaret cringed, realising she'd confused a punkass teenage version of Emma for her own more mature Emma. "Sorry."

"Come on. She can't have gotten far," said David, grabbing the keys to the cruiser.

* * *

Emma jogged along the deserted main road that lead out of town. It seemed to be the only road that actually went anywhere in this weirdo pace. She hadn't seen a single car coming or going or else she would've hitched but she was almost at the town line anyway.

She slowed to catch her breath slightly and jumped a mile at the sound of crunching leaves underfoot coming from her right. Someone was in the woods coming towards her.

"Don't come any closer, I'm warning you! I'm a karate in black belt... I mean, switch that. Anyways, I'll kick your ass till it hurts!"

A young girl about her own age stepped out of the brush, holding her hand up pacifyingly. She wore a sky blue riding jacket over fitted black trousers and boots, with her dark chocolate hair braided elegantly around her head like a crown and ending in a long plait. She approached with her hands out and cringing apologetically.

"I'm sorry, can you help me? I don't know where I am," said the brunette in a genteel voice.

Emma's mouth went dry as the girl came closer, seeing that she was extremely pretty. "Uh sure. I uh, anything. Yeah."

"I'm Regina." The brunette smiled widely and held out her hand politely.

Emma shook the dainty hand and flicked her blonde ponytail casually. "I'm Em. Emma Swan."

"Nice to meet you Em," Regina returned the greeting by rote. "I think I'm lost. I was riding my horse on my father's estate and then the next thing I know I'm here."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "'Your father's estate?' What are you, like some kinda rich princess?"

Regina's face reddened bashfully. "My father was a prince, but he lost his title. So no, I'm not a princess technically."

Emma grinned rakishly. "Well, princess. Seeing as how I've got nothing better to do... I'll help you get home."

The girls fell into step continuing on the road out of town, talking and sneaking looks at each other the whole time. But their meet-cute was interrupted suddenly when Emma heard a siren whoop and saw a car approaching with blue and red lights flashing.

The teens stopped in their tracks as the police cruiser came screeching to a halt. Emma grabbed Regina's hand, since she looked scared at the sight of the car. Emma saw that it was the dumbass Deputy getting out from behind the wheel with an unamused expression on his face.

"Whatever you do don't tell them anything, princess," Emma said urgently. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes," Regina nodded quickly. The naive girl automatically put her trust in the first person she met in this world.

* * *

"I want my phone call."

Emma was hanging on the bars in one of the cells at the Sheriff's station and Regina was in the other cell, perched daintily on the bed and watching everything with wide eyes.

"I know my rights! I want a phone call," insisted Emma loudly.

Mary Margaret and David shared a look of long-suffering frustration, hearing the demand for the tenth time in an hour.

"Who are you gonna call, Emma?" asked David, knowing full well the girl had nobody to call.

"Pizza? The White House? Ghostbusters?" sassed Emma, starting to sing the theme song from the movie. " _When there's something strange... in the neighbourhood... who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!"_

Mary Margaret sighed at their obnoxious child. "When did - the Sheriff - say she was getting here?"

David checked his watch. "Five minutes ago."

The real Emma walked in right that second, holding a takeaway coffee cup and a bunch of paperwork from the town meeting she'd been at.

"David, _what_ is so urgent? I was in the middle of - oh my god, what the hell? Who are they?"

The older Emma stopped in her tracks and her jaw dropped at the sight of the girls in the cells - her own teenage double and Regina's.

Younger Emma seemed taken aback as well. "Hey! Why do you look like me? Except older obviously, and fatter."

Emma glared and rounded on David and Mary Margaret with narrowed eyes. "What is going on."

David answered her as helpfully as he could, explaining what'd happened so far. "We don't know. We were hoping you could sort this out."

Emma put the stuff on a desk and then walked from one cell to the other, first eyeing her young self (who met the gaze with a challenging glare) and then moving in front of a young innocent-looking Regina in the next cell.

"What's your name?"

The blonde teen in the cell next door interjected fast. "DON'T say anything. Never trust cops."

Regina answered apologetically. "My friend says not to tell you."

Emma raised her chin. "I bet you must've known your friend for a long time to trust her that much..."

Regina brightened. "No, actually we just met in the woods today but-"

"Shhh princess!" hissed the young Emma, recognising the trap.

"Sorry, Em," mumbled Regina.

Emma watched their interactions closely. "How old are you, Regina?"

"Eighteen." The young brunette avoided her hard gaze by looking at the floor.

"How did you get here?"

"I'm not sure."

Emma let her voice harden, trying to scare the girl into giving them some answers. "You must know something. Start talking now or I'll have to interrogate you. Do you know what that means?"

"Please don't. I'll be good."

The young Regina looked like she was about to cry and her friend stuck her hand through the bars and placed it on her shoulder.

The blonde teen glared at Emma. "You made her cry, you jerk."

She went to the front of the cell and grabbed the bars in her fists. "You can't keep us locked up in here! We haven't even done anything wrong. Turn your back for five minutes and we'll be gone, I swear. I'm like Houdini, yeah? You hurt her again and I will end you."

Emma took in a deep breath of frustration and counted to ten in her head. She joined Mary Margaret and David to whisper furiously at them.

"How the hell did this happen. Where are they from?"

Mary Margaret shrugged with each suggestion. "The past? Fairytale land? A parallel universe? It has to be something magical... a spell or curse."

"But the young me didn't replace me me," said Emma, puzzling it out. "Hey, have you tried to find Regina? I mean, our Regina - the older meaner one."

"She's not answering her phone," said David.

"Ok," said Emma. "First we gotta see if Regina still exists and then we'll figure out what to do. But in the meantime we can't let the girls go and have them run all over town causing trouble. We have to keep an eye on them. Especially me. I mean, younger me."

"Emma, were you really that much of a brat at that age?" said David, afraid of the answer.

"Worse," said Emma, with a grimace. "Trust me, do not give that girl an inch and do not take your eyes off her."

"Is it wrong that right now I don't regret giving you up and having to live through that?" said Mary Margaret wryly.


	2. Two-by-four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thanks for all the kudos guys! Enjoy :)

* * *

" _One's past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged."_  


― _Oscar Wilde_  


* * *

Regina called out to her son when he alighted from the school bus in Main street. He hiked up his backpack straps and gave her a dull look when she came over.

"What are you going here, Mom," said Henry.

"I came to meet you at the bus stop," said Regina with a stiff smile. "I thought we could spend some time together this afternoon."

"Does Emma know you're here?" Henry raised an eyebrow at her and then turned to head for the entrance to Mary Margaret's apartment building.

Regina stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Please Henry. I miss you."

"Right. You just want to get me alone so you can cast that curse to make me love you."

"Henry, you saw me destroy it."

"You probably xeroxed it first," said Henry stubbornly.

Regina knew that the curse was long gone. Curses could only be cast from the words they were originally created from - they could not be memorised or copied. But there was no-one to verify that and no proof. She had hoped her actions would have been enough to convince her son that she was trying to change. But like always, he refused to believe it. She had no idea what more she could do to convince him. Perhaps there was nothing.

"My mother used to do magic on me. I won't do it to you," said Regina softly.

Her son shrugged her off and continued on his way. Regina gritted her teeth and followed after him.

"Henry, I don't care if Emma has to supervise! I just want to see you. We could go to the diner for hot chocolate? Anything you want."

"Mary Margaret will make it for me when I get home," said Henry unkindly, trying to make her go away.

He ran up the stairs to the flat, leaving her behind.

... but he'd learned his stubbornness from somewhere and when he went through the apartment door he saw Regina appear in the apartment in a cloud of purple smoke. No-one else was there and it made him nervous.

"Mom," Henry sighed in annoyance.

"Please, Henry. I need to know." Regina reached out to stroke his cheek gently. "Was it really all bad with me? For ten years you thought I was your mother."

"It wasn't bad," Henry admitted. "But you were. Underneath it all."

"Do you hate me that much Henry?" asked Regina thickly. "What is it about me that you can't love?"

Henry shifted uncomfortably, trying not to fall for what he assumed was an act but he felt guilty all the same.

"How can you even ask that after what you've done, Mom? You know exactly what you are. You've always been bad... I just didn't see it before."

* * *

"Regina's still ignoring her phone," said Emma in annoyance. "Or just me."

Emma led the pack climbing the stairs to her parent's apartment. The two teenage girls (the blonde was in handcuffs) were being force-marched behind her with David and Margaret forming the rear guard. They couldn't exactly keep the teens locked up in jail cells indefinitely so in lieu of any better idea, they'd decided to keep them under house arrest in the apartment until they figured out what to do with them.

"Cool," said Em gleefully. "Escaping an apartment is way easier than escaping jail. See ya later, suckers."

"Where are we going?" said young Regina nervously. "It's getting late. I'll miss tea."

Emma twisted the knob of the front door, finding it unlocked and assumed that Henry was already home.

"Henry, are you home yet?"

Emma pushed the door open and was shocked to see her son and his mother talking earnestly.

"Regina," Emma growled. "What are you doing here-"

"I wanted to see my son."

Regina glared at her and then her expression changed to shock as the teens came into the apartment followed by Mary Margaret and David. Though rather familiar with magic and it's use as a disguise, Regina could hardly believe her eyes at what she saw. Henry too was wowed by the sight of the young doubles of his mothers.

"Woah!" gasped Henry.

"What is going on here?!" said Regina.

"So, that settles it I guess. Regina still exists in this world," said Mary Margaret dryly.

"You sound disappointed, dear." Regina smiled darkly with no humour at all.

"Regina, did you have anything to do with this?" asked David, gesturing to the teens.

There were only a few people in town with magic and Regina was one of the obvious possible perpetrators of malevolence/mischief. The former Evil Queen was capable of being a cunning manipulator and star actress but her surprise appeared to be genuine as she went up to the young girls to study them closely.

"No, I didn't do this," breathed Regina. "But where did they come from and how did they get here."

"You're me?" said the young Regina curiously.

Regina looked at her own double for mere seconds and then fixed a look on the young Emma who was staring at her in quite a different way.

"Check it out, princess," Em said in amazement. "You've got an older version here too! Except yours is _bangin'_. Wow."

Regina sent Emma a sly glance and pointed to the younger version. "I think I like this one better. Can I keep her?"

"Ohmygod yes!" Em grabbed her arm and begged. "Can I go with you? Anything to get away from these hypocrite cops."

"You're not going anywhere," said David firmly.

"Excuse me?" said Regina, taken aback. "What right do you have to take custody of these girls? And why is she in handcuffs? She's a child."

"She's a thief," said Emma dryly. "What's the big deal. She's gonna go to an actual prison in a few months anyway. I did."

"Indeed," said Regina coldly. "I'm sure you enjoyed your Fifth Amendment rights. You don't know prison until you've been locked up indefinitely in a medieval hellhole."

"You deserved that," said David pointedly.

"Hey, don't listen to these jerks," said Em, sucking up to Regina. "Nobody wearing Prada could be all bad. I'm sure you did nothing wrong. Neither did I."

Mary Margaret shot her daughter a disapproving look. "Emma, seriously? It only took Regina five seconds to turn your younger self to the dark side?"

"Hi, I'm Em," said the blonde teen, batting her eyelashes at Regina.

"Regina Mills," she answered with a light smirk.

"More like 'Queen of my heart'," said Em smoothly, making them all groan. "Can I have some food? I'm starving and that dumbass cop took all my candy."

"Let's go. Take my hand?" said Regina, offering her palm.

"Hell yes!" said Em happily.

And before the others could stop them, Regina and Em disappeared into a cloud of purple smoke.

Emma kicked the air in frustration and clenched her fists, unsure if she was angrier at Regina or at her idiot younger self. Now that Em was out of her sight and teamed up with Regina... god knows what trouble they'd get into together, not to mention what they'd tell each other.

"She can do magic?" a small voice came from someone they'd overlooked.

With one stricken look, the younger Regina's face crumpled and she ran out the apartment door.

* * *

Em and Regina appeared in a swirl of purple misty tendrils on the porch at 108 Mifflin Street. Regina waved her hand over the handcuffs causing them to disappear from the teen's wrists. Em was curious at the sight of the magic and the fact that they'd just transported halfway across town, but she more taken by the apparent opulence of the mansion.

Em's jaw dropped. "Holy shit, you live HERE?!"

Regina opened the front door and led the blonde teen into the foyer where she started yanking at her boots to take them off. Em looked rather thinner than her older counterpart and not half as healthy. Remembering the girl's complaints of hunger, Regina intended to get a meal into her straight away.

"Follow me to the kitchen?" suggested Regina.

"Um, I dunno," said Emma, eyeing the expensive artwork and antiques. "Maybe I should just stay outside. I totally don't belong in a place like this. I'll wreck something."

"You are not sitting outside on my porch. Why would you think that?"

Regina headed for the kitchen with Em following and taking in everything with wide eyes.

"Because I'm a bad kid. They all say so."

"Who says?"

Regina gestured to the stools at the bench for her to sit while she got out ingredients for dinner.

"Everyone." Em shrugged. "Nobody wants me. I'm a level 5 risk - 'Maximum supervision needed'. I'm a troublemaker. A thief."

"Maybe you're just creative at getting what you want," said Regina wryly.

Em laughed. "Maybe. But you can do magic! That was awesome. What else can you do?"

"Oh, this and that," said Regina vaguely.

Regina waved her hand over a pot of water on the stove and in an instant it began to boil. She dumped a fistful of dry pasta that came from nowhere into the water and caused it to swirl magically until it was covered fully. She preferred to cook properly these days since magical shortcuts weren't quite as good as the real thing but at least this would get dinner on the table more quickly.

"So what's the story with you and Sheriff Skinnyjeans? I don't think she likes either of us much."

"We don't see eye-to-eye on anything - especially when it comes to my son."

"That kid's yours?"

"Yes, but she won't let me see him."

"Bitch," grumbled Em. "You seem alright, god if I had a Mom like you I wouldn't be such an idiot... What's her problem?"

Regina pressed her lips into a tight smile. "I've done some terrible things. But she doesn't think I can change."

"Yeah well, you and me can stick together then and Crankypants can hate us both... Hey, how come I grew up boring and my Regina grew up cool? Not even fair."

Regina whipped them up a quick batch of spaghetti and doled out the steaming pasta onto two waiting plates. As they ate, she noticed Em taking yet another breadroll and stuffed it into her pocket where she'd already hidden a couple of apples.

"You don't have to hide food. You can have as much as you want - now and later," said Regina.

"Oh, yeah," said Em, embarrassed both by what she was doing and for being caught. "Sorry. Force of habit. Thanks for dinner by the way. The only thing my foster mother ever cooks is meth."

After a while, Em slowed eating to ask something that had been bugging her. "Regina? When you were younger would you have - I mean - do you think she would ever-"

Regina looked at the blonde carefully. The teen was shaking her head in annoyance at herself and stabbing at her pasta.

"What do you want to know, Em?"

"Nothin' - it's just that you're- she's so pretty when she smiles. Or anytime really."

* * *

Emma chased after the young Regina, knowing that the girl was from Fairytale Land and was just as likely to run into traffic as not. She was prepared for a long chase, but she found the young brunette standing on the kerb only feet from the apartment building's entrance. The girl was looking left and right anxiously, as if wondering which way to go.

"Which road? I don't know which way is right," said the young Regina fearfully.

"Er, that way is right," Emma frowned and pointed in that direction. "But neither way leads home for you."

"I'm going to get in so much trouble."

"Hey," Emma said, softening her tone. "No you're not. Don't believe everything Em says. We will look after you and help you get home alright?"

That seemed to mollify the girl's fears substantially. Em had warned her not to trust anyone but her in this world, but that hadn't quite sunk in with the naive girl and she was inclined to let any adult take over her care - especially one promising to get her home.

"I suppose I believe you. You are her, aren't you? An older Em?"

"Lay off calling me old and we'll get on just fine, k?" said Emma with a smile. "Call me Emma."

"Why did Em leave me, Emma? Are you going to stop me seeing her?" said the young brunette worriedly.

"Uh-" started Emma. "It's complicated. The woman she went with -"

"Me?"

"-Yeah. She and I don't really get along."

The young Regina looked confused. "That's strange."

"Why is it strange?"

"Because of how I feel about Em," said the young brunette, starting to blush.

Emma had to force her jaw not to drop and hid her shock at the girl's words and what they meant. Hadn't the girls only met today?

"Come on, Mary Margaret's going to put dinner on. Let's go back upstairs."

During dinner, the adults all kept stealing glances at the girl, hardly believing that it was really a younger version of the Regina they knew. First she had asked when 'Cook' was serving and if she could help, then she would jump a mile to get out of anyone's way as they passed, and now she was thanking Mary Margaret for dinner over and over - as though she hadn't expected to be given that much.

"I'm Henry," he said to the girl sitting at the dining table next to him.

"That's a lovely name. It's my father's name too," said the young Regina fondly.

"I'm eleven. How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"That's so weird," giggled Henry to himself.

"I think my mother would agree with you. She wishes I were already married, eighteen is far too old to be unmarried she says."

"You have to get married already?" cried Henry.

David, Mary Margaret, and Emma all shared wary looks, knowing all about Regina's history of being forced into marriage and also knowing the young age of brides in medieval times. The true depth of that fact and what his mother had likely endured had gone over Henry's head.

"I suppose. My mother will find a prince or another high-ranking noble. But if I had my choice - I really wish I could marry for true love," said the young Regina wistfully.

"The stable boy?" guessed Henry.

The brunette looked confused. "We don't have a stable boy. Our stable master is getting frail though, he is searching for a youth to take his place but has been unable to find a suitable candidate."

"She hasn't met him yet," murmured Mary Margaret.

"There is someone I really like though..." admitted the young Regina, her face colouring rosily. "Did you ever meet someone and just know you wanted to be together, to know everything about them?"

Mary Margaret looked at Emma in alarm and they hastily went to the kitchen under the auspices of getting dessert.

"Emma, who is she talking about?" Mary Margaret hissed, afraid of the answer.

"It's Em! She has a massive crush on her I think," whispered Emma furiously.

"We have to stop this, Emma," warned Mary Margaret. "She can't fall in love with the younger you. She has to meet Daniel and fall in love with him - his death starts it all. Or otherwise, Regina won't grow up to cast the curse, Storybrooke won't exist... and Henry will never be born!"

"That's not the only reason," said Emma darkly. "Em is a bad kid. We have to keep her away from Regina. Or that girl in there is going to get her heart broken."


	3. Caught

* * *

" _The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."_  


― _L.P. Hartley_  


* * *

After dinner Em had a request for Regina. Although she was grateful for everything she'd been given so far, she was always a pusher of boundaries and was more than equal to the task of asking for more and seeing how much she could wrangle.

"Hey Regina? Can I have a shower and borrow some clothes?"

"Of course. I'll show you where everything is. I'm not sure if I'll have anything you'll like but you're welcome to whatever you find."

"Thanks," said Em awkwardly. "I don't wanna have to see her again wearing this and being all grotty-looking like some kinda streetkid."

While Em was changing in the bathroom, Regina dug inside her own closet and then Henry's closet. She came up with a pair of too-small jeans she'd forgotten to return, a tanktop, and a sports jacket of Henry's in navy with white stripes down the arms. She grabbed some new underwear and socks and a pair of Henry's Cons and went to knock on the bathroom door. The door was laying ajar and Em stood at the mirror in her underwear. She was even thinner than she appeared when dressed and her ribs were showing alarmingly.

Regina gasped at the sight of the enormous angry-red graze that covered Em's entire back, like she'd come off a motorcycle or had been dragged across a gravel road by the foot. She pushed through the door and automatically reached out to her.

"Em, what happened to you?" gasped Regina.

Em flinched. "Don't! Don't touch me."

Regina drew back immediately and held up a palm. "Ok. I won't. But are you hurt?"

Em wrapped her arms around her thin middle. "Whatever. It's nothing ok."

That injury was definitely not nothing, Regina thought. Most likely abuse at the hands of one of her foster parents and it filled in a piece of Emma's empty past. She didn't want to press for details or insist on seeking medical care in case it scared Em off altogether though. Regina decided to leave it for now, but that rash was going to sting badly when the girl got in the shower.

"It looks painful. I can give you something to put on it?" offered Regina.

"It's nothing," Em insisted.

"I can help you-"

"Listen you've been real nice to me, but I don't trust you. I don't trust anyone so just drop it ok?"

"I brought you some clothes." Regina held the items out like a peace offering.

"Thanks," Em smiled weakly and took off her thick black glasses to set them on the sink.

* * *

Over at Mary Margaret's apartment, a similar scene was going on. Emma was sitting on top of the toilet seat and Mary Margaret was on the edge of the bath. Both of them were trying to convince a teenage Regina to have a bath but she was being stubbornly reluctant for some reason.

"Are you _sure_ you don't want a shower?" offered Emma again.

"No no," young Regina said shiftily. "It's fine. I know I smell like horse - I was riding - but don't worry. I'll bathe when I get home."

"It really is ok," said Mary Margaret, trying to convince the shy girl and fearing that it might be some time before they managed to get her home.

"But you can't afford it!" blurted out the girl, and then clapped her hands over her mouth. "I am so sorry - I'm sorry!"

Emma tried not to laugh, but she was confused. "Why do you think we can't afford it?"

"Because you don't have any servants," said young Regina, with a fire-red face. "And you all live in this small loft. But I don't mind really! I'm not above lowering from my station. I'm grateful to you for everything you've done for me."

Mary Margaret took pity on the naive girl and explained. "Things are different here in this land. People don't have servants anymore. It may not seem like it but we're more well-off than most."

"Oh," the young brunette said in a small voice. "I've never been away from my father's estate. My mother says poor people live like dirty savages in tiny hovels."

Emma tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at her curiously. She wasn't going to miss an opportunity to get at some of Regina's secrets. It had never sat right with her that Regina had sided with her mother the minute she'd turned up in town - why would she have done that when Cora had killed the love of her life? And had only just framed her for a murder that didn't even happen? It didn't make sense.

"Do you always do what your mother tells you?" asked Emma casually.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" young Regina said, sounding confused by the question.

"You seemed afraid when you saw Regina perform magic earlier. Your mother uses magic doesn't she?"

The teenager looked at the tiled bathroom floor sadly. "I don't like magic. Why would I ever learn?"

Emma glanced warily at Mary Margaret, heading into dangerous territory. "You uh, had something you wanted to accomplish."

"No. I would never do that. Anything worth having can be gotten without magic," young Regina said with conviction, sounding more mature than she had yet.

"Wish you'd convince yourself of that," said Emma dryly. "Regina doesn't seem to get it."

"Ok we need to find something else to call you," said Mary Margaret to the teen, trying to keep the names straight. "This is getting confusing."

_Yeah right,_ Emma thought to herself. _Like we'd confuse this scaredycat little waif for the Evil Queen - caster of the curse to end all curses! Or the Mayor who manipulated and bullied everyone around till she got her own way...This girl is nothing like Regina._

"Em calls me 'princess'?" said the teenage Regina.

"How about Gina? Or Ginny?" suggested Mary Margaret.

"Hell. No." said Emma firmly.

"Ri," said the teenager with a smile. "Then I match Em."

"There we go," Emma put on a plastered smile and punched the air lightly. "Now how about that bath, Ri?"

* * *

In the middle of the night, Em threw off the covers of the bed revealing her still-fully dressed self and grabbed her Cons from the floor. She opened the door to the guest room softly and peeked down the hall. The door to Regina's bedroom was open, so Em crept down the dark hall without making a sound and made her way out of the mansion.

Once her feet hit the pavement outside she broke into a jog, her breath clouded in front of her in the chilly night air as she headed across town. She only stopped once on the way, to retrieve something special she spied behind a shop window - nothing stood in the way of an experienced thief with nothing to lose. Not to mention one armed with a brick. The alarm didn't go off so Em took what she wanted and continued on her way.

Inside the apartment, Em tip-toed through the dark until she found who she was looking for. She found her easily, sleeping peacefully under a blanket on the couch in the living room. All was dead quiet, dark, and still in the apartment.

Em leaned on one knee beside the lounge and trailed the back of her fingers down the girl's cheek.

"Princess?" whispered Em.

Ri woke up and her eyes went wide. "Em! Wh-"

"Shhh! Quiet." Em held a finger to her lips, just visible in the dim light.

"-sorry," whispered Ri as she sat up. "I'm so glad to see you, Em!"

Em looked her over and groaned. "Oh my god, what have they done to you... Snoopy pyjamas!"

"Aren't they sweet? Look at these little dog pictures and the fabric is so soft. I wonder where it-"

Em cut her off. "Focus, Regina! I have to get you out of here. You're coming back to Regina's with me."

Ri shrank, afraid to tell her the truth. "Em, I don't want to."

"Why? You can't stay here with these jerks. Come to Regina's. Please?"

"But they've been really nice to me. And I'm not going where there's magic, Em. I'm sorry."

"That's ok." Em smiled and stroked her cheek. "But nothing will stop me seeing you. Finding people is kinda my thing... so is finding ways around people. I had to see you."

Em held out a single red rose.

* * *

Emma groaned when her phone rang underneath her pillow wrenching her from sleep. She grabbed it quickly before it could wake Henry (dead to the world as usual) and answered the call.

"Regina, what the hell? It's 3am," hissed Emma into the phone at a whisper.

" _Is Em there with you?"_

"What? No," said Emma annoyed, getting out of bed to pace. "You abducted her this afternoon, remember? Don't tell me you've lost her already-"

" _She's not here anymore. I'm worried about her."_

"She can take care of herself. For god's sake, I said not to trust that girl as far as you can throw her but did anyone listen to me?!"

" _Emma, she needs help. I think she was abused."_

Emma clenched her jaw tightly. "News flash. She's me. I know what happened."

" _Then you should have some sympathy!"_

"Oh please, she'll get over it. She's a bad kid anyway."

" _Don't you dare say that in front of her! She already thinks that. You and your parents are so close-minded, you think everything you do is right and everything I do is-"_

"Do not make this about you, Regina. Oh and by the way, since you haven't asked, your younger self is fine, thanks to me-"

" _Of course she is."_

"- except for the fact that she jumps when anyone comes near her. She's terrified of her mother and of magic and of the entire world! She's so afraid of not being a good girl, she was beside herself thinking she was gonna miss dinner and her mother would find out. She acts like she's twelve, not eighteen. She asked us what the correct way to bathe was - like she'd never been trusted to do it herself before! What the hell happened to you, Regina?!... Regina!"

Emma heard Regina's line go silent as she hung up on her.

* * *

Ri took the rose from Em's hand. "It's pretty. As far as I can tell in the dark."

"Not as pretty as you," said Em nervously.

"I think you're really pretty too," said Ri shyly. "I never thought that about a girl before. Well, I haven't really met anyone my age before - boy or girl - so I don't know..."

Em sat on the couch next to Ri, as close as she could get.

"I know I'm kind of an idiot," admitted Em. "No-one ever wants to get to know me ... but I really like you, princess."

Ri smiled happily. "I want to know you better too, Em."

Em smiled nervously and took one of Ri's hands and laced their fingers together.

"It's weird huh? We only met today but I already feel like we should be together. But something strange is going on here - we don't belong here I don't think. And we might have to go back to where we came from one day soon."

"Maybe we're both in a place we don't belong."

"And even if we were together I got nothing to offer you."

"I don't care! I really don't. There's only one thing I dream of."

"What's that," Emma said hopefully, immediately deciding that whatever it was, whatever it cost, if it was in any way possible she'd get it for her.

"I don't want to say yet," Ri said softly.

"Bummer," said Em, a little disappointed. "That's gonna make my search doubly hard."

"You're close," hinted Ri.

Emma's eyes dropped to Ri's lips and she leaned in closer. "How close?"

"Very," giggled Ri.

A tiny distance away from her lips, Em cupped Ri's face gently and whispered. "Can I kiss you?"

* * *

Emma stared angrily at her phone after Regina had hung up on her and clenched her fists.

Seconds later, a cloud of purple smoke appeared in front of her and then Regina stood there in the bedroom. She was dressed in slate-coloured satin pyjamas with a dark grey robe belted around her middle. Regina was distracted for a moment by the sight of Henry sleeping in the bed and then glared malevolently at Emma.

"Regina, what the hell are you doing here?" hissed Emma at a whisper.

"Emma, whatever you think-"

"You can't just magic yourself around and appear in someone's bedroom like a creepy stalker!"

"I came to get Em. She is here! I know it," Regina whispered forcefully.

"Even if she is... you are not taking her back. The girls are staying here with us."

"No. I'm taking them both this time!"

Emma growled in frustration, glancing at Henry to see if he'd woken. She grabbed Regina's elbow and marched her out of the bedroom as quietly as she could while still being rather rough.

"Regina, we can not let the girls be together. If they're from the past it could mess up the future, the present - everything could be ruined -"

Emma's jaw dropped and Regina was hardly less shocked at her side as they stared at the sight on the couch in horror.

Em and Ri were making out like a couple of teenagers.


	4. Houdini

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos guys :). I'm so amazed at the response to this story. Enjoy!

* * *

" _I desire no future that will break the ties of the past."_  


― _George Eliot_  


* * *

 

Emma turned on the lights and grabbed Em's arm pulling her off the other girl. Ri sat up in shock and Em started protesting and fighting against Emma like a wildcat.

"What is your problem, jerk?" yelled Em, trying to shake off the strong grip on her arm.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" lectured Emma angrily. "You can't just go through life taking whatever you want."

Mary Margaret and David came downstairs from the top bedroom looking sleepy and rumpled. David stifled a yawn and Mary Margaret frowned at the scene taking place in her living room.

"What's all the yelling?" said David.

"What are Em and Regina doing back here?" said Mary Margaret. "It's the middle of the night."

"Em ran away. We caught her and Ri together..." Emma started to explain with a 'you know what' gesture.

"That was my first kiss. It was lovely," said Ri, blushing prettily and holding her fingertips to her lips.

Emma put her face into her palms. "They were making out."

At the adults' horrified expressions Em rolled her eyes. "Hey, old people, would you just chill out? What's the big deal?"

Emma turned serious on her younger self. "The big deal, Em, is that you took advantage of that young girl. She didn't know what she was doing."

"She does now." Em winked.

Ri looked crestfallen. "What have I done? I don't understand. Am I not a maiden anymore? Mother says such girls are bad and never get married."

"We didn't get that far, I swear," cried Em. "I didn't do THAT to her!"

"She's going to kill me!" Ri panicked.

Mary Margaret rushed to put her arms around Ri since she was becoming really upset. "No no honey, that didn't happen. I'll explain it to you later ok?"

"Mary Margaret, you can't mess with the past-" David warned.

Mary Margaret's eyes hardened at her husband. "You know what's about to happen in her life don't you? I am not letting her face that knowing absolutely nothing, David, that's cruel."

"Wait. What's about to happen in her world...?" Em glanced shrewdly at Regina's stony-masked face. "She's about to get married isn't she. No. I can't stand the thought of some rich old dude putting his filthy hands all over her and inside her and just- no! This is disgusting!"

Em reached for Ri's hand and promised her. "I won't let that happen. I can get us out of here. Trust me. I'm like Houdini."

David frowned at the phrase Em had used once before, a thought suddenly occurred to him as they tried to sort out this mess.

"Em, how'd you get into the apartment? The doors are locked from inside and all the windows were closed. We're not even at ground level... how did she get out of your house, Regina, was there anything broken?"

Regina shook her head. "No, I locked up..."

Realisation dawned on Mary Margaret's face as well. "And she got out of the jail easily as well. She got all the way to the town line where she found Ri. How, Em?"

"I dunno," Em said evasively.

"You must know. How did you get in here?" David asked again, emphasizing the words.

"I- don't- know," insisted Em. "I just need to get in somewhere and I do."

Emma sighed and explained reluctantly in a monotone voice. "She's using magic, she just doesn't know it. That why she can take what she wants and then get away with it so easily. That's why she can find anyone she's looking for. I've always been able to make things happen but I didn't realise I was doing it. There was only once when I couldn't get myself out."

"I had to see Ri," said Em, gripping the other girl's hand tightly. "I wanted to see her. She's mine."

Emma glared at her younger self. "She's not yours. You shouldn't have done this and you know it."

"Oh yeah, hypocrite? And what were you doing with Regina in your bedroom just now?"

"Not what was happening out here."

"Good," said Em harshly. "Cos you don't deserve her anyway. You treat her like crap and you won't even let her see her son."

"Is that what she told you?" Emma glared at Regina.

"It's the truth," said Regina, with as much venom as she could put into the words.

They locked their gazes on to each other, neither willing to back down from the staring contest until a new voice arrived to interrupt the tense silence. Henry came out of the bedroom he shared with Emma, rubbing his eyes like he'd just woken up.

"Why is everyone yelling?" said Henry anxiously. "What are you doing here, Mom? You're not supposed to be here."

"God you are such a little shit," said Em nastily. "You don't even know what you've got! If I had a Mom I wouldn't treat her like you treat yours."

Being spoken to like that by his 'mother' had Henry almost in tears so Emma grabbed him to comfort him straight away. He pointed to Mary Margaret and David and spoke in a wobbly voice.

"But you do have a Mom, Em. Mary Margaret is your Mom. And that's your Dad, David."

"No way." Em scoffed in disbelief and thumbed at Emma. "They're the same age as her!"

"It's true, Em," Mary Margaret said in a soft voice.

"Magic screwed everything up," said David. "Time got frozen for a while."

Em looked at Regina for confirmation, the only one she trusted enough not to lie about this right now.

Regina nodded sorrowfully. "It is true. I cast the magic that made this happen."

Em raised her chin and regarded David and Mary Margaret defiantly. She paced in front of them like a cougar in a cage, appraising them like they were prey and examining their every feature closely for the first time. These hypocrite cops were her parents? The ones who had abandoned her at birth, leaving her on the side of a road as if she was worth nothing to anyone? They didn't appear to be crack addicts, or dirt-poor, or mental cases... in fact they appeared normal, or better than normal. There didn't seem to be any legitimate reason immediately apparent for tossing her away.

"So why'd you give me up? Didn't I fit into your perfect life?"

"No!" Mary Margaret denied it with wide eyes. "Em, that wasn't it at all. It was because of the curse, Re-"

"I don't care what it was," Em interrupted in a steely voice. "It should've been nothing. There's no reason to ever give up a kid. I would never do that. Not for any reason. Nothing could be more important than being together. But I'm a bad kid and you wouldn't want me anyway so as if it matters."

Mary Margaret held out to her hands to Em's face but the teen flinched and moved out of reach.

"Em, we loved you. We had to give you up to save you. It was the worst thing I ever had to do-" said Mary Margaret, fighting tears.

"I wish I'd never been born," said Em cruelly.

Emma grabbed Em's arm and wrenched her around to face her angrily. "Wake up to yourself! You think your life's bad now? Everything's about to get worse, I promise you that. There's others even worse off than you. So you'd better suck it up and stop feeling so sorry for yourself. Cos you're gonna need to be strong for what's coming."

"Then I'm not going back and you can't make me! I hate my life," Em yelled.

Tears formed in Em's eyes and they darted around the room as if she were looking for an escape. But Emma recognised the signs and wrapped her arms around the teen before she could try to run.

"Emma, don't!" said Regina hastily.

Em cried out in pain from the rough handling on her sensitive back from the gravel rash and dropped to the floor crying. At the same time Regina threw out her arm and magically tossed Emma away. The others were all stunned seeing her fly across the room to crash into the wall.

Regina moved to block the others' view of Em and held up her hand letting it glow magically.

"Do not touch her again."

Shaking in fear Ri stepped up to her older self. She looked tiny and impossibly young standing there in her Snoopy pyjamas. She was clearly terrified by the show of magic, even if it was done in name of protecting Em.

"Why are you doing this? You're just like her," said Ri.

"Grow up," said Regina coldly.

"But why are you like this? I don't want to be you. I don't want magic."

"It will not be your choice," said Regina grimly. "Others will force you onto this path, believe me."

"For crying out loud, Regina, you're still trying to convince us you had no choice in all this?" said David incredulously.

Emma got up off the floor, breathing hard with anger. "Look. We are going to figure this out. The girls are going to have to go back to where they came from. If they're from the past and we change things it could affect everything that happens. Everything could unravel one thread at a time."

"I don't want to go back," sobbed Em thickly. "Today was the best day of my life. I don't wanna lose Ri!"

That thought was pretty upsetting - the homeless girl had been dumped in a strange place and arrested twice but because she'd met a friend and received some small kindnesses in the form of a meal and some clothes ... _this_ ordinary nothing-much day was the best one of her entire life?

"I have to go back too I suppose?" said Ri sadly. "It sounds like there must be something bad about to happen to me... but I'm glad I met Em first. I think I could endure anything if I knew I'd see her again one day."

"Please trust me, princess. I will find you." Em cupped her hands around Ri's face.

Ri nodded. "Don't ever change. I like you already."

"Hey, Romeo and Juliet!" said Emma sarcastically. "Your tragic teenage romance isn't over yet. The only place you two are going right now is to bed."

"Separately," added David firmly.

* * *

Regina swirled her arm in circular motions and all of Mary Margaret's furniture flew upwards and stuck upside down to the ceiling as if glued there by mistake. She conjured three single beds in the living room obviously intending them to be for herself, Em, and Ri.

But Emma had other ideas, she shook her head at Regina and pointed to her own bedroom.

"Uh uh. You cannot be trusted either. You are sleeping in there with Henry."

"But Emma-" Henry started to protest.

Regina waved her arm again and her son's bed from home appeared next to the others, not that there was much room left in the apartment now. Without looking at any of them, she stalked away to her assigned bedroom and shut the door.

Em and Ri went for beds next to each other but Emma intercepted her younger self and shoved her to the other one.

"No way," said Emma firmly. "I'm in the middle one."

Mary Margaret and David had already gone back upstairs so Emma tucked Henry in and shut off the lights before taking to her own bed so they could all get a few more hours sleep before morning.

"Psst princess!" whispered Em.

"Yes?" Ri whispered back.

"Sweet dreams. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

"I won't," Ri giggled softly. "Sweet dreams to you too."

Emma rolled her eyes even though they couldn't see in the dark, supremely annoyed at the ping-pong lovey-dovey conversation she was now in the middle of.

"Dream of me?" said Em.

Before Ri could answer, Emma butted in. "Would you girls shut up? You're sickening."

Em gave up any attempt at being quiet and spoke at her normal volume. "Well, sorr-ee Sheriff Crankypants, but I think you're just jealous."

"I am not jealous."

"Ha ha! You totally are. I saw you checking her out. You can't keep your eyes off Regina's -"

A loud banging came from the upstairs bedroom. "Everyone shut up and GO TO SLEEP!"


	5. Allies

* * *

" _No man is rich enough to buy back his past."_  


― _Oscar Wilde_  


* * *

"This is the worst family breakfast ever," said Mary Margaret to herself, looking around the table forlornly.

The beds had disappeared and the furniture that was stuck to the ceiling had been put back to it's normal arrangement. The seven of them were crammed around the tiny dining table scrabbling over the breakfast things and either chatting or lapsing into tense silences: Mary Margaret, David, Emma, Henry, Regina, Em, and Ri.

To their surprise Em had recovered from all the yelling she'd been doing a few hours earlier... but since there was food available, a roof over her head and no immediate plans for sending her back (not to mention Ri's hand to hold under the table), she was happy. She mostly ignored Mary Margaret and David, giving them the silent treatment whenever she chose to. Or not.

"Actually the worst breakfast ever is a mouldy bagel under the rail bridge in the rain," said Em hoity-toitily.

"Yes, your life is the suckiest of all. You win, Em," said Emma dryly. "Cry me a river."

Em ignored her and chatted away happily to Ri. "Hey Ri, if we're gonna be here for a little while, I've got so much to show you in this world! We can go to the mall and I can get you anything you want: clothes, jewelery, a fridge... ok maybe not a fridge - that one's a two-man job and I doubt Sheriff Skinnyjeans over there is up for it, even though she knows she co-ould." (Em sang the last part obnoxiously.)

Emma merely took a sip of her orange juice and ignored the teen.

"What's a fridge?" said Ri curiously.

"That cold white box over there with Emma's heart in it," said Em, squinting at her before turning back to Ri.

"Hey! Guess what, there's this new movie that just come out. I've snuck in to see it like five times cos the main girl's really cute. I fell asleep in the theatre last time and the stupid security guard walked right past me and didn't even see me-"

"That's cos of your magic, idiot," Emma muttered.

"-but I would totally see it again. You wanna go? It's called Bring it On."

"That movie's so old!" said Henry, laughing. "Emma's got it on DVD."

"That movie is stupid," sniffed Emma.

"No-one asked you, Little Miss Boring Grown-up," said Em, wobbling her head.

"This is the best family breakfast ever," murmured Regina, hiding her smirk behind her coffee mug and thrilled to be witnessing this.

Mary Margaret noticed Em's empty plate. "Em, do you want me to make you some more toast?"

"Yes. Stuff something in her mouth and shut her up," said Emma.

Em reached over to Mary Margaret's plate and casually grabbed her mother's toast instead of waiting for her own. She put the slices on her plate, as though she was provoking them all to see who would tell her off for it. But nobody did. Her parents suspected that she was just testing the fences for weaknesses and that any show of parental discipline would only fan the flames of her anger against them.

"I'm starving!" said Em. "I could eat forever and still be hungry. I've got hollow bones."

"It's hollow _legs._ " Emma rolled her eyes and got up to make her mother some more toast.

Regina took an egg from the serving bowl and put it onto Em's plate. "Eat this, it'll fill you up better than toast."

"Thanks, Regina. You're awesome," said Em sweetly. "I like you the best. I mean, after Ri of course."

"Why are you sucking up to her?" said Henry, confused.

Em started drumming her fingers on the table and put on a deep cinema announcer's voice. "This breakfast is rated Em. For Mature audiences only!"

David snorted, trying not to laugh, wondering how much Ritalin it would take to bring Em back down to the level of a normal person. His daughter used to be quite the character.

* * *

After breakfast, everyone got dressed normally in their own clothes except for Em who was still wearing her jeans and jacket from last night, Regina who conjured her day clothes with magic and Ri who was given a pretty white skirt and blouse of Mary Margaret's to wear.

Ri was rather taken by her new clothes ("...but this corset is strange. I don't like it.") and she was wowed by Regina's smart-looking black pencil skirt and wine-coloured satin blouse. She sat next to her older self on the couch and then reached out to play with Regina's shorter haircut. Emma was amazed that Regina tolerated it since she hadn't yet shown any patience at all for her timid younger self and usually ignored her when possible.

"Why'd you cut it?" asked Ri, running her fingers through the shorter dark locks.

"I ... like it this length," said Regina uncertainly. Her hair had been that way since the curse and it hadn't occurred to her to grow it back.

"It looks nice. But Mother says short hair is for boys. What did she say when she saw it?"

"Nothing."

Regina kept her tone even, not wanting to tread into dangerous territory by explaining what had happened with Cora. Obviously it hadn't occurred to her younger self to ask why her mother wasn't in this world anymore. She knew she'd probably panic without there being an iron fist to be ruled under. She wouldn't know what to do with herself. For Regina, it was painful enough to have her mother mentioned every five seconds.

"I like your outfit. Did Mother choose it for you?"

"No."

Emma came over holding a coffee mug and sat on the lounge opposite the two Regina's. She smirked at the older one for the topic of the conversation.

"The girl loves clothes huh, Regina?" said Emma. "I bet the first thing you did after you cast the curse was go shopping."

"That was the second thing actually," snarked Regina.

Em wandered over and plopped on the lounge, slouching next to her own counterpart. She nodded at Regina's shoes. "Those are Prada. I know cos I sell the fakes on ebay."

Ri tilted her head shyly at Regina, getting up the courage to ask what she was dying to ask. "Can you tell me one thing?"

"I can't tell you that," said Regina firmly with a shake of her head.

Ri quickly glanced at the Emma's and pleaded with Regina. "Please tell me?"

"Yes. And no," Regina answered stiffly.

"Oh," said Ri sadly, but she was confused by the answer.

The others were completely lost by the cryptic conversation. Emma narrowed her eyes at Regina, wondering if she'd let slip any secrets that could affect the future. Well, any more secrets than were already out.

"This world is really strange," said Ri, seemingly randomly.

"You haven't even seen much of it yet," said Emma wryly.

Ri's first day in the real world had only involved the woods, the Sheriff's station, and the apartment. Neither had Regina herself seen much of the world really, Emma realised, since she'd never been out of Storybrooke.

"I can show you!" said Em.

She jumped up, grabbed Ri's hand and took her to the window where she drew the curtain back with a 'ta-da!' flourish. The two teens stood side by side at the window, Em happily pointed things out to Ri who was taking it all in with wonder.

Emma raised her eyebrows at Regina and cringed as if to say "you fell for that corny line?"

Henry wandered over to peer out the window with them. "What are you guys looking at?"

"The futuurrre!" Em announced pointing and looking at the ceiling like she intended to blast off in a rocketship.

"You're kinda weird," said Henry, wrinkling his nose.

"Hey, watch it, kid," said Em, taking offense. "I'm not gonna be a streetkid for the rest of my life, you know. I'm taking computer classes at the community college. I already know more than the teachers. Those idiots haven't even realised that I enrolled with a fake credit card and a train station as my address."

"Again, that's cos of your magic, idiot," called Emma from her place on the couch.

"Whatever, Crankypants," said Em, going on to brag to Henry. "If you think I can get in and out of buildings to steal stuff easily you wait till you see me with a computer system. I can hack into anything and they don't even know I've been there. I'm like Houdini."

Henry scrunched his face at his mother. "Your catch cry is really kinda annoying, Emma."

"I'm great with computers," said Em again. "I can find anything. Hey Henry, can I borrow your laptop?"

"No," said Emma firmly, knowing what she was getting at. "You are not looking up lottery numbers, stock prices, or World Series results. You becoming a millionaire will destroy the world."

Henry frowned and then snuck a glance at Emma before running off to the bedroom. "Be right back. I just have to check something!"

Em smirked knowingly. "He's gone to delete his internet history hasn't he?"

Emma nodded. "I've already looked through it."

"Ha, nice." Em laughed once and then froze her expression. "I mean, you suck."

* * *

Later that morning Em and Ri were sitting at the table playing a boardgame that they'd found in Mary Margaret's cupboard and Henry was bugging them to let him play too.

"Buzz off, kid. I'm trying to be with my girlfriend," said Em, swatting his hands away from the plastic square tiles.

Henry pouted pathetically. "Please. Why can't I play?"

"Because that would violate the rules. Scrabble is only for two."

"It is not!" said Henry indignantly.

Emma and Regina were in the kitchen nursing coffees while they waited for Mary Margaret and David to return. They'd gone out to try to find if there anyone else knew anything about the magical mess they were now in. Tired of the kids' squabbling, Emma called out to them to knock it off and ordered her younger self to be a bit nicer to Henry.

"For god's sake, Em, let him play with you! It won't kill you."

"Stay out of it, Cranky," sang Em. "Scrabble is serious business."

"You're going to lose anyway cos you dropped out of school and you've got the vocab of a ten-year-old," muttered Emma.

Ri moved over to make space for Henry. "Why don't you come be on my team, Henry? I don't know how to play this game."

"This is gonna be fun," said Henry, smiling at his new buddy happily.

But Emma was right - by the end of the game Em had gotten a trouncing, not even taking Henry's contribution into account. Em was amazed by how smart Ri was and pestered her about her education following which Ri admitted bashfully that she hadn't been to a proper school as she wasn't allowed off the estate.

Em's jaw dropped. "You NEVER went to school? Lucky!"

"How come you know lots of big words, Ri?" said Henry.

"I have four hours tutoring every afternoon," said Ri with a slight grimace. "Mother says I need to be able to present well at court and be clever enough to know when the nobles are conspiring against me."

In the kitchen, Emma gave Regina a look. "Or was it clever enough to concoct evil conspiracies of your own?"

Regina didn't bother to answer.

Emma rubbed a hand over her face. "Argh. Do you think we've already screwed up the future?"

"What do you mean," said Regina carefully.

"If the girls go back to the past and remember everything that happened here won't it change things? I mean, Younger Me knows all about her parents and magic ... and Younger You knows that her life is about to suck royally when she gets married - no pun intended - what if they decide to do things differently? What if we've changed too much already?"

"Maybe we haven't changed enough."

Emma frowned at her. "What? No. If they are us from the past then they need to go back so that they can grow up and become us. If things don't happen the way they did the first time then... I dunno, stuff could start randomly disappearing or something. Like Storybrooke. Or Henry!"

"That won't happen."

"Oh, saying so makes it a royal edict does it, Your Majesty? They have to go back to the past. Em has to get pregnant and go to jail so that Henry will be born. Ri has to meet Daniel and marry the King so she casts the dark curse. That's how it went."

"Yes, thank you for reminding me. I'd quite forgotten," said Regina quietly.

"Look," Emma said uncomfortably. "I don't like it either and I get it - your life sucked. So did mine. But the past is in the past and this is how it has to be. We got through it ok."

"I didn't." Regina's eyes flashed. "And I don't think you did either."

Emma clenched her jaw tightly. "That doesn't mean we can go back and edit our lives to remove all the crap parts."

"What else do I have?" said Regina flatly. "Nobody believes that I want to change my present. I may as well try to change my past."

Emma's face dropped in shock. "You _want_ the girls to be together?"

"So what if I do?"

"Why?" Emma persisted in disbelief. "They're from different worlds. Different times. They're not even really us - they're figments of the past."

Regina got up from the stool, keeping her eyes downcast. "If she has to go back to her life... I just want her to have some happiness first."

Emma was surprised by Regina's compassion... but which girl had she been talking about?


	6. Rage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rated M. Trigger warnings and mentions of child abuse. Minor references to past events only, no scenes. Also some strong language and mature scenes.  
> I promise most of the fic will be much lighter than this! Thanks everyone for reading and supporting this story :).

* * *

" _Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real."_  


― _Cormac McCarthy_  


* * *

 

When Mary Margaret and David arrived back at the apartment, they surreptitiously gestured to Emma and Regina to come meet them out in the hall.

Em, Ri, and Henry were otherwise occupied watching Bring It On on the boy's laptop. Em was saying all the dialogue in perfect timing and trying to explain the jokes to Ri who obviously got none of the pop culture references. Ri seemed to like the cheerleader outfits though.

Emma closed the apartment door behind herself and Regina, leaving it cracked just in case. She peeked through the gap at her younger self as though she were a bomb that could go off at any second.

"Did you get any answers?" Emma asked her parents urgently.

Mary Margaret shrugged as if to say yes-and-no. "The Blue Fairy doesn't know where they're from or how to get them back."

"As helpful as ever," muttered Regina.

"But Pinnocchio and Marco were there with her - she thinks that maybe something went wrong with the do-over spell," said David.

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You mean the spell misfired? August gets a do-over and so do Regina and me? We get another chance?"

"I don't think so," said Mary Margaret, frowning. "August was replaced by his younger self, the little boy who came through the wardrobe. You and Regina haven't been replaced by Em and Ri."

"Yes, _August_ certainly deserves another chance at redemption doesn't he?" said Regina sarcastically.

"Regina, give it a rest," said David impatiently. "You are well past that point. You've spurned every chance you've ever been given."

Regina's eyes flashed dangerously. "So he gets to relive his hedonistic lifestyle all over again? Sipping mai-tai's in Phuket? Meanwhile that girl in there is living under a bridge half-starved. He had one job in coming to this world - protect Emma - and he didn't even do that."

"Em can take care of herself," said Emma tightly.

"No she cannot," returned Regina fiercely. "She is a child. She is underweight. She was physically abused and-"

"She had cigarette burns on her arm," put in Mary Margaret.

"Not to mention her entire back whipped by road rash like she was dragged across the asphalt," said Regina in an accusatory tone, as though it were their fault.

"Oh, Emma-" said Mary Margaret pityingly.

"Stop!" Emma held her palms in the air. "Look - just stop - I know all this! It's _me_ you're talking about."

"Your foster parents abused you, Emma?" said David gently, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Emma shrugged him off defensively. "Why is this such a surprise to everyone? You gave me up. Granted you didn't know where I'd end up at the time but you know now. The real world isn't a fairytale. I ran away when I was 17 and lived on the streets. Even prison was a better option than the foster home I was in. How can you not suspect what my life was like?"

Mary Margaret shut her eyes against the prick of tears. "You _are_ angry at us."

"You traded me for breaking the curse. And it's worked out fine now, so can we please just move on. The past is in the past. I don't care anymore and I don't want to talk about it."

"The past isn't in the past, Emma," said Regina. "It's in the living room."

Emma glared at her. "And what about you huh. That sweet innocent girl in there? Everything she says convinces me that your mother controlled your every move and you were so brainwashed you didn't even know it was happening."

"Life taught me not to be so naive," said Regina darkly.

"Right," Emma scoffed. "Except that you had zero skills to deal with the crap that life threw at you. Your mother twisted your mind and opened the door so that anyone powerful enough could walk through and take control. Paved the way for Rumpelstiltzskin didn't she?"

"As your father says, it was my choice," Regina said slowly in a low dangerous voice.

Mary Margaret spoke up. "But Cora always was-"

"Don't you even say her name in front of me! She's dead because of you!" Regina's barely suppressed rage exploded murderously. She pointed at Mary Margaret's heart.

"You still love her, don't you," said Emma.

Regina whirled on her. "Of course I love my mother! You should know what that's like now that you have one. And now mine is dead because of yours."

"The reason you're trying so hard to forgive your mother... is it because you want Henry to forgive you? You want it to be possible."

"I want my son back!"

"You had a real chance for that. I was gonna trust you... but like always your mother swooped in and lured you back. You are on a knife edge here, Regina. If I turn my back on you are you gonna stab me?"

"If I get the chance." Regina glared at her, and then at Mary Margaret.

"No. You come after Mary Margaret again and I will kill you."

Regina stepped up into Emma's face dangerously. "Don't underestimate me. You know what I'm capable of. I can kill all of you and reduce this town to ashes in seconds."

"Don't underestimate _me_ ," Emma said, bare inches from her lips. "You _don't_ know what I'm capable of. When Em uses magic she could be standing right in front of you and you won't even see her. You think _she's_ a loaded gun? Wait till you see what I can do. You come after my family again and I will end you."

* * *

"Take a photo, kid, it'll last longer," said Em, without taking her eyes off the laptop screen.

Em was sitting on the couch close to Ri with her arm draped around her. Henry was staring at them while the girls watched the movie as though he couldn't quite believe she was really Emma nor that Ri was really his Mom. This latest time Em caught him so he'd hastily returned his attention to the screen where the last group in the cheerleading contest was about to start performing.

"I wasn't looking," said Henry.

"Yes, you were. You were staring at us."

"No, I wasn't."

"You're lying, kid. I can tell."

Henry tested her out. "You can tell when anyone is lying?"

"Yup," said Em confidently. "Anyone. Just another one of my awesome superpowers."

Em was finding him really annoying, staring and pestering her all the time. She'd had enough of living with other children of varying degrees of brattiness in group homes and she wasn't very tolerant of them any longer. Plus he kept intruding on her time with Ri and butting in.

"Do you want kids one day, Em?" asked Henry, deciding to go on a fishing trip.

"Ew. No way," scoffed Em. "Why would anybody? Kids are brats."

"I think children are sweet. I hope I have children one day," said Ri. She leaned over Em to smile at Henry, trying to soothe his hurt feelings.

"Ri's nicer than you, Em," said Henry, with his chin jutting out.

"Boo hoo. Now be quiet, my favourite part is coming up."

"The whole movie is your favourite part."

"So be quiet for all of it then."

"No."

The cheerleading contest in the movie ended, and switched to scenes showing the crowd and the judges instead of the main characters. It'd taken Ri a little time at first to understand Em's explanation that it was a fiction and the people weren't real - she couldn't quite grasp that it wasn't really happening.

"Em?" said Ri curiously. "What happens to the people when they're not in the little window?"

"The characters in the movie?" said Em, wondering what she was actually asking.

"Yes. Where do they go?"

* * *

"By the way," said Emma casually, still outside the apartment in the hall. "I hope you weren't too attached to your valuables... cos Em will have already stolen them."

Mary Margaret was slightly skeptical. "But we've been with her the whole time-"

"Uh huh. Sure." Emma raised her eyebrows at her.

"But she's just a -"

" _Don't_ let her get into your medicine cabinet either," Emma interrupted again. "You got anything harder than Tylenol you better flush it before she can get to it."

David shook his head at her in utter disbelief. "Emma, stop trying to convince us that you were some kind of devil child."

"I am not exaggerating," said Emma seriously. "I was a bad kid. Why won't you believe me?"

"We're your parents," said Mary Margaret with a small smile.

"You're idiots," Regina broke in. "Emma, they don't want to believe it because they're afraid of knowing what happened to their baby girl when they sent her away."

"I look at Em and I realise I don't know you at all, Emma," Mary Margaret gave her a sympathetic face full of pity and regrets.

"Stop looking at me like that," said Emma in annoyance. "Both of you."

"We gave you up without knowing whether you'd be ok... are you angry because you did the same with Henry?" asked David gently.

"I can't decide if that was the right choice right now!" said Emma heatedly, starting to really lose it. "If I'd kept him he would've started out life in the backseat of my car... but at least he wouldn't be in the middle of this fucking ridiculous blood feud between Snow White and the Evil Queen. I don't even care if the curse never got broken. I should've just taken Henry ages ago and left you all to deal with this fairytale nonsense yourselves!"

"You wouldn't do that, Emma. You're good," said Mary Margaret confidently.

"Oh really?" Emma held her palms like a set of scales. "Ri started off good but now Regina is bad... Em is bad but now I'm good. How does this make sense? How can you just sum up an entire person's life with these labels? The world doesn't fit into neat little boxes like Good and Evil just because you want it to."

"If I have to face the Council I want her as my legal defense," said Regina wryly.

* * *

After the movie was over, Em had managed to be mean enough to Henry to hurt his feelings so he'd dragged his feet off to his room and taken the laptop with him. Em considered that a double bonus, getting rid of the adults and the child in order to be left alone with Ri finally. But she was softened a little when Ri gave her that kind look and said: " _He's only little, Em. Be nice?"_

Even Ri was excited they were alone though and she nervously placed a little kiss on Em's lips, light as a butterfly's wings. It didn't take Em long to get things going, quickly taking the kiss to the next level and running her hands everywhere she could. She knew Ri wouldn't take any initiative so she guided her where she wanted her, pulling her on top of her so the other girl was straddling her thighs.

Em moved Ri's dress up and pushed their hips together, trying to give Ri the hint. She was dying to feel Ri's bare skin and Ri's hands on her as well. But she was basically running this show herself so she took one of Ri's hands and placed it under her own shirt to palm herself with their hands.

Ri was starting to get it though - or at least she knew what was feeling good. _Really_ good. It felt so hot and throbby moving against Em's thigh, she didn't want to stop. Her heart was beating fast like she'd been racing and it began to pound even harder when Em touched her somewhere new.

Ri gasped. "Em!"

"Sorry, too fast?" Em panted.

"It feels-"

_Please say good_ , Em begged silently.

"I don't know what to do. Is this right?"

"Yes," Em sighed. "Keep going?"

Ri was out of breath still but seemed a little anxious. "Em, have you done it? What Mary Margaret told me."

"Um, yeah. But it wasn't very good."

"Oh."

"But it would be with you!" Em said hastily, trying not to scare her off and lose her chance.

"Em, is it really good?"

"Yeah, see it's like, um," Em stammered. "It'd be good with us. Cos uh, we want to and stuff. But not until you're ready?"

Even though she didn't answer Em could tell from looking at Ri's worried face that she definitely was not ready. Em was torn by desire and dread. She suspected what was in store for Ri in her future marriage and though she was tempted to try to coerce her into it so that her first experience would be safe and loving... Em knew that Ri really wasn't ready and if she did bend the girl's pliable will she'd just be first one to hurt her in that way. The thought made her blood cold.

Em sat up, shifting Ri so she was still sitting astride her lap, and held her close so they could wrap their arms around each other. Ri laid her head over Em's shoulder in the crook of her neck and closed her eyes. Em sighed, holding Ri safely in her arms and never wanting to let her go.

"I'm pretty sure love makes it good, Ri," she said softly.

* * *

Things were deteriorating in the hall as the four adults continued to hash out all the ugly details of the past.

"Emma, were you ever-" started Mary Margaret in dread.

"No. I wasn't." Emma broke in swiftly, knowing what she was going to ask. "But Regina was, weren't you?"

"What," said Regina thinly.

"Marital. Rape." said Emma grimly enunciating the words. "Em's right isn't she? It _is_ disgusting. That poor girl in there, Ri, she's about to get married against her will-"

"Don't make me sound like such a pathetic victim. It was normal for the time period." Regina crossed her arms and looked away, but she was clearly becoming upset.

"You didn't even know what it was but the King claimed his rights anyway didn't he-"

"Stop- st-" Regina heard the roaring in her ears begin to build.

"Did he put his hands on you? Put himself inside you?"

"Stop! It hurt so much," gasped Regina, shutting her eyes tightly against the dizziness. But her voice wasn't her own, it was lighter and younger and in that moment, she was Ri all over.

"My father?" whispered Mary Margaret in horror, as though the thought had never occurred to her before.

Emma turned and barked an order at her parents. "Get inside, now!"

"But Emma-" started David in alarm, afraid to leave her with Regina.

"I can take care of myself," snapped Emma. "Go!"

After they were gone, Emma put her hands to Regina's distressed face and sighed at her own cruelty. She put her arms around Regina and pulled her close, though the other woman did resist a little at first she fell into it and allowed herself to be held. Emma's voice was soft near her ear when she spoke.

"I'm sorry to bring this up for you but I need you on my side... and the others can't know or they won't let us mess with the past."

Regina drew back far enough to look at her with a question in her eyes.

Emma's face set with stony determination. "We're going to save the girls."


	7. Gossip Queen

* * *

" _History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon."_  


― _Napoleon Bonaparte_  


* * *

**Chapter 7 'Gossip Queen'**

Inside the apartment the others were getting ready to sit down to lunch. Mary Margaret and David were setting out plates and food items, every now and again they glanced worriedly at the door where they knew Emma and Regina were continuing their intense discussion/fight just outside.

Em pulled out the chair and gestured with a flourish for Ri to sit down. "Milady."

Ri giggled. "Thanks, Em."

David sent Mary Margaret a wry look at their young daughter's smooth moves. "Looks like chivalry isn't dead after all."

"Who's dead?" asked Henry, taking some bread for his sandwich.

"Never mind," Mary Margaret told him. "Here, do you want some salad?"

The apartment door opened and Emma came in followed by Regina, both of them with stiff postures and avoiding each other's eyes, trying to lend credence to covering their newly formed conspiracy. They noticed the lunch setting and silently went to join the table.

Unconsciously Emma pulled the chair out for Regina before taking her own. The others were stunned to see her repeat Em's move - although with far less ceremony.

"Whoomp, there it is!" Em laughed to herself, detecting the change in the older couple immediately.

"You say the funniest things sometimes, Em," said Ri, with lovestruck eyes.

"I know, I'm hilarious. I don't even try, it just happens."

"I think you're weird," said Henry.

"Hey Ri, try this," said Em, producing a brightly coloured foil packet in her hand. "It's chocolate. You'll love it."

"Where did you get that?" David frowned.

"You didn't take _all_ my candy, cop," Em said smugly.

"It's sweet!" said Ri, biting off a corner of the candy bar.

"Not as sweet as you, princess." Em leaned over to kiss her cheekbone quickly.

"Can't we just have dinner without the show?" said Emma, rolling her eyes and kicking Em's leg under the table.

Em poked her tongue out at her. "Hey, pay attention, Crankypants, you might learn something. I got the moves. You might get somewhere with yours if you try."

The air seemed to crackle with tension around Emma and Regina as they continued to avoid each other under the curious gazes of Mary Margaret, David, and Henry. Em and Ri's romance raised obvious questions about their own relationship. Why had the younger girls hit it off so easily when their older versions had spent their early days hitting each other with everything they had? Was it just that they were both defensive and territorial over their own claim on Henry or was it something else? Whatever was between them was hard enough to define without an inquisitive audience.

Ri spoke up hesitantly. "Regina? When you go riding can I go with you?"

"I won't be going riding," said Regina.

"Oh. But don't you miss Rocinante? I miss him already and it's only been a day. He's my best friend."

Apparently it hadn't occurred to Ri that her childhood steed would be dead by now nor that her older self no longer went riding at all. Not to mention how sad it was that the sheltered girl had a horse for a best friend. Her interest in the topic seemed to bring the words spilling out of the normally quiet girl though.

"You like horses, Ri?" asked Em, keen to know everything about her.

"I love riding! It's my favourite thing. I ride an hour every day and longer if Mother is away. Last time I got in trouble though because I went near the vault. I know Mother is keeping something from me in there. I think it's my trousseau! I hope it is."

Ri turned to Regina. "I'm dying to know. Is it?"

"It is your wedding gift, yes," said Regina in a dark tone missed by only half the table.

"If I have to get married I suppose I'll at least have a beautiful gown. I've made it myself, I can work magic with a needle and thread. I managed to get some fairyshot for the embroidery. I'm going to have my hair braided into a crown and my dress will be white, of course, to honour the baby princess."

"T-the baby princess?" stammered Mary Margaret.

"Oh yes. Princess Snow White. I suppose she's not a baby anymore, she's seen eleven winters now I think. Ever since her birth all brides have worn white."

"You know Snow White already?" asked Henry, confused.

"No," sighed Ri. "I begged mother to take me to court to see the Royal family but she wouldn't. She doesn't approve their politics but I think they're so interesting. I'd love to have seen the Princess - they say she is the sweetest child - but I think I'd be too scared to meet royalty. It is a shame about the Queen. I don't know what I'd do if I lost my mother..."

Regina kept her eyes on her plate but she could feel everyone watching her - well, Emma and her parents anyway - it was disturbing and mortifying listening to her younger self. She could feel Emma's entire focus on her and when she reached under the table for her hand, Regina folded her own away first. Ri kept on babbling her thoughts though, oblivious to the tension.

"I heard that the King is scouring the countryside looking for a new bride. He must be grieving terribly, they say he and the Queen were a True Love match. He really ought to marry the Daughter of Tinburgh, that would make the most sense politically but apparently she dislikes children so I suppose that would be an unsuitable choice. It will be good for the Princess to have a mother again. I wonder who it will be?"

"This is actually painful to listen to," muttered Emma.

"Oh! I'm sorry." Ri started to blush. "I shouldn't gossip so about the Royals. It's nothing to do with me. Mother always says that."

After that they could barely get another word out of Ri (even though Emma assured her she hadn't meant it like that) and the rest of them lapsed into awkwardness as they ate. Sweet little Ri's words were heart-breaking in conjunction with the knowledge of what spectres lay ahead in her life at the hands of the very Royals she admired and the mother she trusted implicitly. Not to mention her expression of pity for the grieving King who would one day defile her innocence. It made Emma's blood run cold.

Mary Margaret was especially unsettled by what Ri had said, especially in light of what she'd just realised about Regina. As a small child she'd thought that everyone married for True Love and when her father told her he had found a new bride, she'd naturally thought that had meant he'd fallen in love again. Snow had found out that Regina was in love with someone else but when she'd married her father anyway she'd thought that maybe they had something after all. It had gone over her head as a child, but now as an adult she could look back and see that things about that marriage were far from right. It grieved her to realise the extent of what her father had done to her former stepmother - she didn't want to believe him capable of hurting anyone. She'd idolised her father and it hurt to find out he wasn't as good to others as he was to her. Maybe that was what Emma wanted her to see.

The pixie-haired brunette was jolted out of her thoughts when Em leaned over and placed a small round object on her plate with a metallic chink sound. Her face dropped in shock and she checked her left hand quickly before picking up the object. She hadn't even noticed it was gone.

"Sorry. It looks important," said Em contritely.

"My wedding ring!" gasped Mary Margaret.

"I don't take things to hurt people," said Em firmly.

"Someone always gets hurt when you steal," said David.

"No. People have too much to start with. They fool themselves into believing they need a bunch of possessions and that they can measure the value of their life by what they've bought. But they don't know it's worth nothing. I don't need anything or anyone except myself."

Henry piped up in a curious voice. "But if you're so good at stealing why do you live at the train station? Why can't you buy whatever you want?"

"You can't buy what I want," said Em quietly. "And I live there because I want to."

"But it's a train station..." said Mary Margaret, cringing.

"Why do you like living there, Em?" asked Regina.

Em shrugged. "It's freedom. For the first time in my life I've got no grownups bossing me around or tossing me around or telling me what an idiot I am. I can do whatever I want and I can come and go anytime."

"But isn't it dangerous?" said David.

"Not really. I can take care of myself. Sure there's the drunk dudes and the occasional rapist around but they don't come near me, it's like I'm not even there. No-one can hurt me anymore. I do better on my own."

Mary Margaret was horrified at the idea, imagining her child living on the streets in all kinds of weather, cold and hungry and alone. Her imagination was running rampant over the kinds of people about who could prey on her daughter. And hearing that Em _chose_ that life was extremely upsetting (it rivaled the thought of her being abused at the foster home). But Em's words rang with truth when she thought of her own grown-up Emma who had come to Storybrooke with the barest minimum of possessions, insisting that she preferred to be alone.

"But Em-" started Mary Margaret.

"She knows, don't you?" Em sent a nod over to her elder counterpart.

"Yes," agreed Emma cryptically. "But you will think differently one day."

"Adults always say that. Can you just tell me one thing?" asked Em seriously.

Emma nodded. "Don't worry, I got it back."

"Phew," sighed Em happily. "I can't wait to see it again."

"Emma?" asked Ri curiously, glancing from Em's face to her elder version's. "Why don't you smile much anymore?"

Emma opened her mouth as if to answer but no words came out so Regina answered her younger self's question instead.

"Sometimes things happen that take a person's happiness away," said Regina.

"Oh," said Ri sadly.

Em leaned over and pressed her forehead to Ri's temple causing her to giggle. "But there are ways of getting it back."

"Maybe you should try it?" Ri said shyly, looking across the table at their older selves.

* * *

Regina was sitting on the bed in Emma's bedroom abruptly jerked out of a deep thought when Emma came in. The blonde stuffed her hands in her jeans pockets and swayed a bit. They were alone since Regina had escaped into the bedroom to get away from the others in the small apartment for a while.

"So. That was only slightly horrifying," said Emma sarcastically.

"I'm sorry it was so distressing for you to hear," said Regina in a flat voice devoid of emotion.

Emma went to sit on the bed next to her causing Regina to narrow her eyes suspiciously at her.

"Regina," said Emma softly. "I'm sorry for what you had to go through. Listening to Ri was just - I can't even - I mean, hearing her talk about her wedding that way, like all she had to look forward to was wearing the dress... and it's worse because I know what's going to happen to her - what happened to you- "

"I don't want your pity," snapped Regina. "You do realise the same would likely would have been your fate too if not for me?"

"What?"

"You think because of your parents that True Love is easy and everyone has it? No. You are _lucky_ you didn't grow up there. The real world is not a fairytale but our home was certainly not a fairytale for everyone either. In marriage you'd have been a bargaining piece passed from father to husband in a political alliance - or worse - just like the rest of us."

Emma shrugged. "We can't know what it would've been like if things were different. If I'd grown up there with them I wouldn't even be the same person I am now."

"You're not even the same person you were ten years ago."

"And neither are you, Regina."

Emma paused, wondering how to go about asking something she'd noticed about Regina's interactions with her younger self.

"Why don't you talk properly to Ri?" said Emma. "She is you - sort of - but you practically ignore her sometimes."

"She's easy to overlook and it's not just me. Or are you trying to make some clever point about me 'ignoring my better self' or something? Because then I'd be inclined to say that you are fighting with yours since you're always verbally sparring with Em."

"That's cos Em's an idiot," muttered Emma.

"You don't even realise what you're saying do you? Em thinks that already and apparently you still think that way. She is you. Why is it that you think nobody would want to bother to get to know you?"

"Even my parents don't want to know me," admitted Emma quietly. "They don't really want to see it."

"It's because they're thinking of themselves and how painful it would be for _them_ to know the truth. Just like when they gave you away. They did that to save themselves and everyone else. They cursed _you_ to a lonely fate instead."

Emma glared at her coldly. "It's not going to work, Regina. Don't try to turn me against them. Whatever issues I have with my parents we'll work them out. We're family."

"Yes, because children always forgive their parents for their mistakes," said Regina sarcastically.

Suddenly, Emma snapped her eyes at the door realising Henry was standing there.

"Hey, kid. What's up?" said Emma lightly.

Henry twisted his mouth sideways and went over to sit in the gap between his two mothers. They were sitting close so there was barely enough room but he squished his little self between them anyway so the three of them were hip-to-hip-to-hip. Some of the conversation at lunch had gone over his head but he had noticed vast differences between the mothers he knew and the teens they used to be.

"You guys are really different now," said Henry.

"Yeah that's -" Emma shrugged. "Kid, that happens. People grow up - and yeah, we're not really them anymore. Em and Ri are just kids themselves, they're closer to your age than they are to ours."

"But-" Henry stopped himself.

"What is it, Henry?" said Regina gently.

"Em doesn't like me," he said. "Does that mean you don't like me, Emma? Are you just pretending?"

"No! Henry, of course not - I love you."

"But only cos you know I'm your son now?"

Emma opened her mouth and paused. A thousand intangible reasons for loving him crashed to forefront of her mind like a hundred-car pileup but there wasn't a single one she could put immediately into words.

"I don't get it, Mom," said Henry, turning to Regina now. "I thought you were only pretending. But you loved me all this time and I wasn't even really yours?"

Regina felt a pang at his words. "Henry, I love you. That's the truth. Maybe no-one else sees it the way I do, but you've always been mine. You've been my son since the day I got you."

"Kid, I know it's hard to understand but you're both of ours," said Emma. "You know why? Cos we both made you who you are. I gave birth to you and your Mom raised you... It's like this - Em would've been a different person if she'd been raised by Mary Margaret and David, and Ri changed after she went through some really bad stuff. There's lots of things that make us who we are. Does that make sense, kid?"

"Kinda," said Henry nodding. "But you guys aren't _that_ different now you know."

"What do you mean?" said Regina.

"Ri looks at me the same way you do, even though she doesn't even know... And Emma? You're kinda weird sometimes, just like Em."

Emma pressed her lips into a smile. "Yeah, kid. I know."

She was still smiling when she looked up and caught Regina looking at her too.

"Excuse me?" Ri's voice came in to interrupt their nonverbal tete-a-tete.

"Hey Ri, what's up?" said Emma.

"Can I have a glass of water please?"

Emma answered, trying not to be impatient with the shy girl. "Ri, it's ok. You don't have to ask permission. Just take it."

"Sorry. I would've asked Em but she's not here."

Emma snapped a look of alarm to Regina. "What do you mean she's not here?!"

"Oh, she just went out. She left a little while ago... she said she was going to try to find some kind of shop but I didn't understand the wording. Henry, do you remember?"

"Yup," Henry nodded. "She's gone to the pawn shop."


	8. Tornado

Emma rushed into the living room with the Regina's and Henry following behind. She tried to locate her younger self with more than just her eyes but Em definitely wasn't in the apartment anymore. Emma looked at her parents, apparently none-the-wiser in the kitchen doing dishes. She knew that if Em had managed to access her magic she could've just walked right out and nobody would've even realised.

"Where is she?" said Emma to her parents, holding her hands out as if demanding answers.

"Who - Em?" said Mary Margaret frowning at them.

"Yes," stressed Emma impatiently. "Where is Em!"

"What are you talking about. She's right there-" David looked around.

Emma pressed her lips together sarcastically. "You let her go. How about next time you guys listen to me?! You have no idea do you. I told you not to let her out of your sight and you didn't take me seriously, you never do!"

"Emma, we'll find her-" said Mary Margaret gently.

"No. You won't," said Emma confidently. "Not if she doesn't want to be found. Luckily I'm better at it than she is."

Emma glanced at Regina and then they both went to get their coats. "Let's go."

"Emma, we'll come with you," said David hastily.

"No," said Emma firmly. "Stay here with Henry and Ri, we'll go after her. Em's gone to the pawn shop."

"She's gone to Mr Gold's?" said Mary Margaret.

"There's only one in town isn't there," said Emma.

Mary Margaret tilted her head. "Yes, but - there's no reason to think Gold will do anything to her... is there?"

Regina responded first, full of cold sarcasm. "Yes, of course. We should just let her go to the man who steals children and is magically immortal. What could possibly go wrong."

"We still don't know what will happen if anyone else finds out about the girls," explained Emma.

"Gold could tell her anything," added Regina.

Ri spoke up for once. "Is Em in danger? Can I go with you? I'm scared but I will do it."

"Me too!" Henry piped up, making a grab for Emma's jacket sleeve.

"No," said Emma, letting her head fall back in exasperation. "All of you - stay - put."

Regina simply held out her palm for Emma to place her hand in and then they disappeared into a rapid swirl of smoke.

* * *

Regina and Emma appeared magically outside Gold's shop. The door was hanging off its hinge and the air still crackled as if magic was everywhere.

The two of them stepped inside the shop cautiously and were shocked at the state of the place. It was _wrecked_.

The shop looked like a little tornado had exploded in there. All the glass counters had been shattered and they gaped like open mouths showing their broken teeth of treasures and nicknacks. Anything that had previously hung from the ceiling was now on the floor underfoot or laying haphazardly across the metal frame of the counter near the cash register - as in the case of the canoe.

"Yeah, nothing suspicious here," said Emma flatly.

"Emma Swan," said Gold, rising from behind the canoe with the help of his silver-tipped cane. "How lovely to see you. Again."

"What the hell happened here?" asked Emma.

"Why don't you tell me," said Gold in a low voice, piercing her with his sharp eyes.

"Look, it's a long story... Was she here?"

Gold gestured his usual flourishes with his hands as he spoke. "If you mean the young lady who came into my shop demanding I give her money then yes. Oh and she looked just like you... What did you do, Regina? Was it a magical fiend in disguise, is this your doing?"

"How did the shop get destroyed?" asked Regina, ignoring his question.

"Oh, it's nothing I can't fix." Gold waved lazily and the broken shop began repairing it's own damage and putting itself back in its chaotic order.

"Did she do this?" Regina pressed him again.

"Well I guess the answer to that depends on your perspective," said Gold.

Emma made a noise of frustration, losing patience with his doubletalk. "Enough with the riddles! Where is she now?"

"I don't know," said Gold honestly. "She said she had something to sell and that she needed money. She was rather upset, as you can see, but I don't think she expected me to defend myself with magic. Then she ran off... Now, _you_ tell me. Who is she?"

Emma thought for a second, wondering if she should even say anything and then decided that Gold might actually be useful since he knew plenty about magic. Or he could've been the perpetrator of the mischief in the first place, god only knows why, but he always did have schemes serving his own agendas in place.

"She's me," said Emma eventually. "From the past, we think."

"Are you sure?" said Gold pointedly.

"No, actually," admitted Emma. "Then it wasn't you? You had nothing to do with our teenage selves suddenly appearing in Storybrooke?"

Gold raised an eyebrow at Regina. "You're here too? Interesting."

"Yes, fascinating," Regina sneered. "You're not to go near her, understand?"

Gold shrugged mildly. "Afraid I'll corrupt you again, Regina? As I recall it was you who sought me out."

Luckily, Emma stopped her with a hand on her arm and held her back with a single whispered word.

"And what does young Henry think about all of this?" asked Gold, unfazed by Regina's threatening him. "Gaining some perspective about his mothers' pasts I assume? Unraveling your secrets thread by thread? Let's hope they don't strangle him."

"What do you mean," said Emma suspiciously.

Gold gave them an enigmatic smirk before turning to head for the back room of the shop.

"Let me know how things turn out," said Gold off-hand.

* * *

Em sat in the corner of the last booth in the diner, staring morosely at the empty table in front of her. A pair of expensive Prada pumps sat on the seat next to her. She tapped a finger on the table while she tried to think and figure out what to do. She had to get money somehow.

"Hey, Emma! What can I get you?"

Em looked up at the cheery voice to see the friendly face of the tall brunette waitress she'd noticed before. She had bright red lipstick, red streaks in her hair, and red accessories. The girl was pretty cute, Em decided, and she was wearing... not very much.

"Uh, you know me?"

"Yeah, of course," said the waitress in a duh voice. She was looking down at her and waiting to take her order.

"Um, can I get my usual? And put it on my tab?" Em tried casually.

"Sure." The hot waitress smiled and then disappeared.

It wasn't long before she came back with a mug of hot chocolate topped with whip and cinnamon and a basket of fries. She put the order on the table but instead of leaving she sat down in the booth across from Em and gave her a look.

"Ok spill," said Ruby, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows. "What's going on, Emma?"

"Uh nothing, um-"

"Ruby. I'm Ruby... and you are not Emma."

Emma smiled humourlessly, realising she was caught out. "You're friends with Sheriff Crankypants? Great."

"That's an interesting name for her," said Ruby, trying not to laugh.

"I guess. I am her - kinda - just 17 years old." Em scrunched her face and propped her chin on her wrist.

Ruby had of course noticed the differences between this Emma and the one she knew. She was definitely much younger, obviously thinner, and she was wearing thick black plastic-rimmed glasses on her baby-face.

"Aw, you are so adorable, Baby Emma! I can't believe you grow up to be our Emma the badass Sheriff," teased Ruby.

"Yeah." Em blew out a breath between her lips. "Can't believe someone put me in charge of anything, let alone the law."

Ruby nodded sagely. "Emma's pretty cool. She's done a lot for this town. Everybody knows she can be trusted."

"So she's not running jobs on the side or taking bribes, nothing like that? She really is as straight as she seems?"

Ruby hid a snort.

"And what about Regina? She and Emma aren't together then?"

Ruby's eyebrows nearly hit her hairline. "Regina?... as in Regina Mills, _the Mayor_ Regina?"

Em was surprised by that. "Regina grows up to be Mayor here? Wow. Guess she gets over her fear of people and you know, everything."

Em pondered it with a little hint of pride. Maybe Ri really would grow up to be the apparently self-assured Regina after all. Knowing Ri as well as she did already, she could see a lot of her in her older self sometimes. Something like vulnerability and depth of emotion but way better hidden. It was easy to overlook Ri because she was so quiet and placid but she was even more sensitive than she showed. She felt things very deeply or not at all.

"But they were never together...?" said Em, moving her head slowly side-to-side.

"Not that I know of," answered Ruby with a shrug.

Ruby pushed the fries towards the blonde teen. "Eat up, Baby Emma. Ya look like you need it."

"Not hungry," mumbled Em.

The door to the diner jangled suddenly and revealed Regina and Emma, who scanned the diner's occupants quickly before heading straight over to the back where Em and Ruby were sitting.

"Em, you can't just run off-" said Emma.

"Whatrya gonna do, Sheriff - arrest me again?" said Em in a dull tone, picking up a fry and eyeing it.

"Em, we were worried about you," said Regina. "This town isn't safe, it's-"

Em interrupted her worrywart-ing. "Seriously, Emma. All your friends are hot and you're not banging any of them? Life sux when you're a kid and it still sucks when you're an adult."

Emma rolled her eyes lightly. "Yes, you can't sleep with whoever you want … and there's bills."

Ruby nodded ruefully. "Not to mention-"

" _RUBY?! Get in here!"_

"-work".

Ruby sighed at Granny's summons from the kitchen, sorry she was going to miss out on whatever was going on. "Speaking of sucky adult life, I better get back to work. I'll leave you guys to it, let me know if you want anything else, Baby Emma."

Once Ruby reluctantly sauntered away to the kitchen, Regina sat next to Em in the booth and Emma took the seat across from them.

"Em, what happened at Gold's?" said Regina.

Em shrugged. "Dude's a jerk."

Emma gave her younger self a warning look. "Em, he's not what he seems. He's dangerous. Don't mess with him alright?"

"Yeah yeah. I wasn't going to, it just happened."

"Were you trying to sell these?" Regina raised her hand where the backs of a pair of high-heels dangled from her fingertips.

Em shrank in shame from her. "Sorry."

"It's ok," said Regina softly. "If you needed something you could've just asked?"

"I shouldn't have taken them from you."

Regina's lips twitched a smile. "It's alright, Em. I don't like this pair anyway."

"You're lying," said Em, with a weak smile.

"You so are," agreed Emma. "You wear those all the time, Regina."

Em raised her eyebrows at Emma and chuckled under her breath. "Ha. Gotcha, Sheriff."

Regina paused to give Emma a look of annoyance and then turned to Em again. "What did you want the money for?"

Em looked down pitifully, like she was about to cry. "My back hurts real bad. I think I need medicine."

"It's infected," said Emma. Obviously it wasn't really a guess.

Em was sitting forward on the edge of the seat so that her back wasn't anywhere near touching the rest behind her. Regina gently pulled Em's shirt up and looked at her lower back where some of the angry red graze could be seen. It was looking rather painful and yellowish in deeper parts of the wounds. She would need antibiotics or cream at the very least.

"You could've told me," said Regina gently.

Em shrugged. "Didn't think to."

"Alright. We're going to the hospital," said Emma with a sigh.

"Nooo," moaned Em.

"Family doctor then," suggested Regina. "I'll take you where I take Henry."

Emma reached over and grabbed a couple fries and dipped them in the hot chocolate before popping the soggy potato strips in her mouth. Em saw it as a challenge upon her territory so she immediately did the same thing and started stuffing chocolate-y fries into her mouth. Regina just shook her head at both of them in disgust.

"Come on," said Emma, getting up out of the booth. "Let's go. Bring your food with you, troublemaker."

* * *

"David, what are we supposed to do about this?" demanded Mary Margaret.

"I don't know, Mary Margaret," he groaned. "What do you want to do about it? We can't just lock the girls up and force Emma and Regina apart. They're adults-"

"Yes! But this doesn't only affect them. It affects all of us. Storybrooke. The whole town. If we let them be together and mess up the past..."

"We don't know what could happen, yeah, but that doesn't mean we can pick and choose which parts to change or not to change."

"So your solution is to do nothing?" Mary Margaret gave him an incredulous face.

Ri shrank nervously and stood a little away from them. She wanted to tell them not to argue about her and Em anymore. It upset her to hear that she and Em weren't supposed to be together. She really didn't want to make any trouble so she was going to back away quietly when they noticed her standing there.

"Ri, honey, do you want something?" said Mary Margaret, finally glancing at her.

"Oh, nothing. I'm sorry," Ri looked at the floor and went off to find Henry. "I just wanted something to read until Em gets back."

But she mumbled and left so quietly that the others overlooked what she'd said and picked up their argument right where they'd left off.

"David, we can't just do nothing," Mary Margaret went on. "You really think we should just let Regina take our daughter away from us?! _Both_ of her!"

David sighed roughly and pointed to where Ri had been standing. "You're just upset because of what _she_ said."

"Of course I'm upset," Mary Margaret dropped her voice to a harsh whisper bordering on hysterical. "Do you think I like hearing what my father did to her?! That it was my fault, and if it wasn't for me none of this would have even happened?"

"We're going round and round in circles arguing over this. It's driving me crazy. Who the hell knows what things would've been like if Daniel hadn't died. You and me might never have met and then Emma wouldn't have even been born. We just don't know." David shrugged helplessly.

"Emma was right," Mary Margaret said sorrowfully. "We don't even know her. She's my daughter and she doesn't trust me!"

Mary Margaret dropped her face into her hands and David went over to her to draw her into a hug...

In the bedroom, Ri peered over Henry's shoulder as he tapped away at the laptop in front of him. The screen showed a lot of funny numbers and symbols in lines and pictures of circles.

"Henry?"

"Mm."

"Do you want to play a game?"

"Maybe later."

"Ok. Can I borrow something to read then?" asked Ri hopefully.

Henry shrugged with his back to her without taking his eyes off the screen. "Sure."

Ri looked around the bedroom and picked up the only book she could find. It was rather heavy and bound in old-fashioned leather and gold leafing. She decided to go outside for a bit of peace while she waited for things to calm down in the apartment. Even though she didn't have concealment magic like Em, they didn't even notice her leaving. On her way down the stairs, she accidentally dropped the book and it fell open on the ground and what she saw made her heart jump into her throat.

It was a picture of her.


	9. Regret

Emma and Regina took Em to the family medical practice where the waiting room was rather packed. They did get a lot of curious stares. Seeing the former Mayor and the Sheriff together was weird enough not to mention the Sheriff's apparent identical twin trailing behind them.

Emma flashed her badge at the receptionist and requested/demanded the next available appointment and then she and Regina went to find chairs as far as possible from anyone else.

Em wandered over to the toys with no interest at first but once she saw she had a full waiting room as an audience she put on a show of exaggerated childishness and sat in one of the tiny plastic kiddie chairs to flick through a picture book.

"I see your maturity has maintained a steady level for ten years," said Regina to the woman at her side.

"I know you are but what am I," said Emma, to cover her annoyance at the jibe.

"What does that mean?" said Regina with a blank face.

Emma huffed, realising that Regina genuinely hadn't heard that childish expression before. "Never mind."

After a while, Emma decided to use the fact that Regina was trapped 'alone' with her to her advantage. With everything that had happened since the curse broke she hadn't had much opportunity to call Regina out for what she'd done and all the dodgy shit she'd pulled against her last year. It was still somewhat unbelievable to reconcile the power-tripping Mayor she'd known with the deadly Evil Queen from the story. She'd known one and everybody else had known the other. Was she right about knowing who Regina really was?

"So. Are you sorry you cast the curse?" Emma asked casually, as if talking about the weather instead of realm-destroying dark magic.

"No."

Emma couldn't hide her surprise. "That's it? Just 'no'... not 'sorry for ruining your life, Emma' or 'sorry for ruining everyone's happiness'? I can tell you're not lying, but what I want to know is why."

"If I hadn't cast the curse and you hadn't gone through the wardrobe then we wouldn't have Henry now. I can't regret him and he's tied to the rest of it. If it weren't for your escape you'd still be less than one day old. It was your birthday for 28 years in Storybrooke until you showed up and time caught up again. I've had enough of living that day."

"You're not sorry the curse is broken then?" said Emma, narrowing her eyes.

"You turning up was the most interesting thing that ever happened here," said Regina wryly. "Otherwise, I'd have just killed you a long time ago."

"Well, thanks for holding back on that I guess... for a while anyway. But I'm seriously never eating anything you make ever again."

Regina said quietly, "You should know that I was coming for you. I separated your family but I wasn't going to leave you alone here."

Emma looked at her suspiciously. "And what were you intending to do with baby me?"

Regina shrugged. "You'd have made a nice doorstop."

Emma gave her a sarcastic face and crossed her arms in annoyance, preferring to wait in silence after that.

Em got bored and wandered over to sit with them, impatiently swinging her knees side-to-side. It wasn't long before Em was called to go in but her usual brave face faltered and she looked at Emma and Regina.

"Do you want me to come in with you?" offered Regina.

Em shook her head at her and then looked hesitantly at her older self. "Emma?"

Emma wasn't as surprised as you'd think that Em had requested her to accompany her into the doctor's examination. After all, each of them knew what they'd had been through. Em was embarrassed enough without having to explain everything in front of someone she liked and was attracted to.

Emma got up to follow Em, but before she went she grabbed a magazine off the table and plopped it on Regina's lap. "Here. Lots of clothes in this one."

* * *

Mary Margaret and David had finally calmed down enough after their fight to notice Ri's absence. When she realised, Mary Margaret felt a cold dread trickle through her and she started muttering under her breath remonstrating herself and David for their carelessness.

"I didn't notice she left," admitted David with chagrin.

"You know what?" Mary Margaret said suddenly. "We would've been terrible parents, we can't even keep an eye on two teenagers let alone-"

"They're not toddlers who are gonna walk off a cliff or poke knives in power points-"

"David, how could we let this happen? We lost Ri as well! Emma is going to snap when she gets home."

"Yes, probably." David sighed. "Look, we'll find her. She's not street-wise like Em, she probably hasn't gone far."

David was right. The last time she'd ran off Ri had gotten two feet from the one place she knew... this time she'd made it three feet. She was sitting on the edge of the kerb with a large book laid open across her lap.

Mary Margaret recognised it immediately as the book of fairytales she'd given to Henry more than a year ago and she was tempted to snatch it out of the girl's hands before any more damage could be done.

"Ri, honey, w-what are you reading? That's probably a bit young for you, do you want something else?" Mary Margaret nudged her husband in the ribs.

"Uh yeah," said David uneasily. "Pinnochio's not even a very good fairytale... It's the um boringest one."

"That's not a word," said Ri quietly.

Ri swivelled her upper body around and her face was wet with tears. She looked utterly devastated. She held up the book so they could see an illustration of the Evil Queen casting the dark curse.

"It fell open at this page. I thought the picture might be my mother doing magic, they say I look just like she did when she was my age... But it's not, is it?"

Ri took in a shaky breath and sniffled wetly. "She's me and this is my story."

Mary Margaret and David realised there was no point denying it and trying to tell her that it wasn't real, that they were just stories. She was a smart girl, though naive, and she would make the connections easily - she could hardly have missed noticing that everyone including her older self was living in Storybrooke instead of the Enchanted Forest... and now she knew that it was her own doing. She knew the truth, at least partially, of what she would grow up to become.

"It's me, isn't it!" Ri cried desperately.

"Yes, it is Regina's story," said Mary Margaret softly.

"Why would I do this? I hate magic. It makes me feel awful."

Ri swiped at the tears now falling fast down her cheeks and her chest started to heave with tiny sobs.

"Is this why everyone hates me?"

"No-one hates you Ri-" started David.

"Yes you do," wailed Ri. "Don't lie! I can see that you hate Regina. Even Emma hates her. I guess Mother is right, no-one will ever love me as much as she does."

Mary Margaret gave her a gentle sympathetic look. "Your mother didn't treat you very well, Ri. She hurt you. She never let you be yourself-"

Ri frowned crossly. "And who is it that I am? I don't even know so how would anybody else. Everyone ignores me all the time... Why didn't anyone try to help me? Didn't I try to find another way? _Why?_ "

"You must've felt like you had to do it." David suggested, trying not to be so harsh as to say what he'd really thought of Regina's actions.

"But there's always a choice isn't there?" said Ri despondently, with only the appearance of hope. "Can't I choose to be good again? Would you believe me if I said I'd try?"

"I'm so sorry, Ri." Mary Margaret was near tears herself. She was only glad that Ri hadn't seemed to connect her with being Snow White... this was bad enough.

"My mother and father always tell me to be good and I try really hard but it's never enough. I still get in trouble and Mother just gives me that heartless look and tells me to grow up. What can I do? I don't even know what to do anymore."

* * *

After the doctor's appointment, Emma and Regina stopped by the pharmacy on the way back so they could fill the prescription for Em's antibiotics. Em was a real pain in the ass though, she followed them down the aisles picking up random products and tossing them into the basket Emma held. Emma rolled her eyes and put each unwanted item back on the shelf as they went, trying not to give her younger self the satisfaction of seeing how annoying she was.

Em grabbed a bottle of vitamins out of Emma's basket and looked at the unfamiliar name. "Folate. Iron. What'sat for?"

Emma tightened her jaw and grabbed the bottle back. "You're malnourished. It's for building healthy cells."... _of a baby,_ she finished in her head.

Em shrugged, happy with that explanation, but it was Regina who sent a sharp questioning look at Emma.

Emma couldn't elaborate with Em in earshot though. She intended to ensure that if Em went back to the past then she would be healthy enough to fall pregnant. She considered it a small amount of messing with the past - surely Em being _healthier_ wouldn't affect Henry's existence adversely? Em was definitely underweight, in fact, she was even thinner than Emma remembered herself being at that age and unhealthy enough to make her astonished now that she'd fallen pregnant in the first place. She was sure that Regina hadn't missed noticing that either.

They headed to the line at the counter to pay.

"Em! Put it in the basket," chastised Emma, finally losing patience with her younger self.

Em shrugged defensively. "What?! You put the stuff back didn't you."

"I mean whatever you've got stuffed in your jacket. Give it here so I can pay for it. How do you think this looks, I'm the Sheriff for god's sake."

"Since when do I care what people think," Em grumbled and handed over a bunch of lollipops and candy bars and a roll of bandages.

Regina frowned at the thin-width bandages. "What do you want that for? That won't be any good for your back."

"Oh god." Emma groaned, and threw the roll away under the shelves angrily. "You don't want to know. Let's go. Now."

* * *

Mary Margaret and David were sitting at the dining table feeling rather useless. They'd tried to talk to Ri and explain things and help her understand but eventually she just closed her eyes and stopped them with a weary hand. So they'd brought her back upstairs and now she was just sitting on the couch depressed, thinking to herself.

Ri was going over and over it in her mind. She couldn't figure it out. She couldn't process the enormity of it all and it was overwhelming her to think about how many people Regina had hurt and how much damage she'd caused in the name of vengeance. She couldn't even imagine herself doing these things. She knew that it must be true, though she still hovered somewhere between denial and acceptance of the horrifying truth.

Was she evil already? Was it already in her? She hadn't done the deeds yet but maybe she was born ready for them. Ready to be molded and shaped into the monster that she would one day become. Could she stop it or was it inevitable? Wasn't there always a choice?

People died and it was Regina's fault. Or was it? The story didn't say for sure. Had she been coerced onto the path, forced deeper and deeper, pulled in by the rip tide of magic like she was caught in the undertow? If that wasn't it then she must have let it happen. The claws of magic had become stuck in her skin, they'd pulled her under the surface and every time she rose up for air she was sucked below again. She'd been drowning in grief and _this_ had seemed like the only option for the rest of her life?

_It must be why Regina is the way she is._ And then Ri realised, _yes of course that's why._ Her older self had even hinted at it during the lunchtime conversation.

_No wonder they are so cold to Regina, she has hurt them badly_ , Ri thought. _This must be what stops Emma from being with her... maybe?_

_I become someone who is not to be trusted. Like a snake lying in wait to hurt others. I cannot be loved because it is too dangerous. They are right to hate me. I'd hate myself. I deserve no-one. If Em found out she would turn away in disgust -_

"Hey, Ri," said Henry, cracking her thoughts like an eggshell. He gave her his cute little lopsided smile and plopped onto the couch next to her.

"Hi Henry," she said softly.

Henry leaned his head against the couch to look at her. "You look sad, Ri."

"It's nothing."

"You look just like her."

"My mother," said Ri in a dull voice.

"No," said Henry. "Yourself. The grownup one. You look just like her right now."

But that just made Ri feel worse. She held back a sob and the tears that threatened to burst out of her chest. She was sick of crying, she'd cried so much already.

"When I was little and I cried my Mom would always give me a hug."

Henry placed his little arms around Ri and pulled her into a hug. Ri wanted to send the child away from her as though he'd be ruined by her touch, but it was too hard and she held fast on to his narrow bony shoulders like he was a lifebelt holding her afloat.

"You're a sweet boy, Henry. Emma is lucky to have you, your mother must love you so much."

"She does," agreed Henry.

* * *

Later that evening when the others got home Em went straight to Ri with a huge smile and held her. Ri's arms wrapped around Em's back a little tightly but the pain didn't even register when weighed up against the comfort of holding her girlfriend again. Even though they were far from alone in the apartment the world felt like it contained only themselves for those moments.

"I missed you, princess!" said Em.

Ri smiled weakly. "It's only been a few hours, Em."

"Hours. Weeks. Years. It's all the same when I'm not with you," said Em sweetly.

Ri shied a little under the kind treatment. "I missed you too, Em. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't see you for years. I hope I don't have to find out. For everyone's sakes."

Em looked at Ri in concern. "Ri? Did something happen?"

"Not yet."

"Huh? Ri, you look kinda down. Is something wrong?"

Ri shook her head and hid from her eyes. "Just - hold me? Don't leave me, please?"

Em wrapped her arms around her again. She wasn't sure where this sudden clinginess had come from but she was eager to do whatever it took to bring the light back to Ri's face. She was sorry now that she'd left her alone. Something was clearly bothering her and though she never specifically asked for help she was gonna get it, Em decided.

"Nothing could ever make me want to leave you, Ri."

Em's words were comforting but for the rest of their time in Storybrooke the light in Ri's eyes would always be a little dimmed.


	10. Alone

"What's up with Ri?" said Emma in a whisper to her mother.

They were in the kitchen getting breakfast for the others. Regina was having plenty of fun brandishing knives to cut up fruit in Mary Margaret's presence and making a show of peeling apples deftly. She was delighted by every flinch she caused.

The night before, Regina had created her bed-magic for the girls again and slept in Emma's bedroom by herself - in a bed that Mary Margaret and David had had sex in actually, Emma thought with a grimace, knowing that Regina would probably incinerate it (and them) if she knew.

Emma was perplexed that she even stayed at all. She could've easily gone home at any time, even if it was just to sleep at night. She figured Regina must have something keeping her there - most likely it was to take any opportunity to be near Henry, even if he didn't go near her much. Perhaps she also wanted to keep an eye on her younger self and Em - she seemed reluctant to allow Emma and her parents complete control over the girls.

Even with four adults to supervise they were having enough trouble looking after the teens. Although to be quite fair, Em was responsible for the lion's share of it.

Emma felt something a bit like ownership over her younger self. It was strange because although she _was_ Em once she couldn't control her now as if she were a literal part of her. She knew what her younger self was thinking most of the time and she knew the motivations behind her actions instantly... but she'd been Em so long ago that she'd almost forgotten what it actually _felt_ like to be her. That version of her had faded gradually until she'd become the person Emma was now.

Emma wondered if Regina felt the same way about Ri, which reminded her... Ri looked a lot like her older self this morning. She looked haunted.

"Why does Ri look like she's gonna fling herself off a cliff?" whispered Emma worriedly.

Mary Margaret sighed, keeping her voice low so the kids in the living room couldn't hear. "She found the book."

Regina paused in the middle of slicing an orange.

Emma was horrified and she hissed back at her mother. "Henry's book?!"

"Yes. She knows Regina was the Evil Queen and cast the curse."

"Does she know about-" the name evaporated in Regina's mouth, leaving a feeling like dry sand there.

Mary Margaret raised a shoulder. "I'm not sure. She didn't want to talk about it so we don't know how much of the story she's actually put together."

Emma glanced over at Ri who was sitting and 'talking' with the others but she was very subdued, even quieter than usual.

"She looks _destroyed_ ," said Emma in annoyance. "How could you let her find out, Mary Margaret? She's not gonna trust anyone ever again after this."

Mary Margaret shook her head sadly. "We tried to talk to her about it but she clammed up..."

Emma gave Regina an expectant look. "Regina. Aren't you gonna say something... or I dunno, react? You should have some insight here."

"What do you want me to say."

"Ri finding out all that stuff ... it's bad for everyone! It's going to change how she acts if she goes back. She's not supposed to know about all of that."

"Your parents were supposed to be watching her," said Regina evenly.

"I know. I'm sorry," said Mary Margaret contritely.

"Yes dear, I'm sure you are. It seems you're never through with accidentally ruining my life are you."

"Regina," Mary Margaret moaned.

"Do you think apologising makes it better? That things are undone because you are sorry after the fact for doing them? Ask _me_ if that's true. Ri hasn't even done anything yet and she already knows it."

"You have to talk to her, Regina," said Emma, shaking her head. "You have to help her understand why you did it."

"I can't do that," said Regina flatly. "She'll be fine."

"She is not fine," emphasized Emma. "This could change everything."

Regina's face tightened. "If she's pure evil then she will do it all over again even if she does know... So there's nothing to worry about is there?"

She grabbed the bowls of fruit with a jerk and then went over to the table.

* * *

For the rest of the day, Em kept trying her hardest to cheer Ri up. But she had retreated into herself and even Em's crazy antics and jokes couldn't cut through it.

Ri kept stealing glances at her older self and then quickly looking away when she got caught multiple times. Regina hardly spoke to her so Ri didn't feel comfortable enough to talk to her or ask any of the thousands of questions that were swarming in her head. She wanted to know if she'd get through it one day but examining her older self told her that maybe there was no light at the end of all this.

Regina seemed to be completely alone. Ri hadn't realised at first since she was always with the others but they never acted like she was one of them or accepted. It made her wonder why Regina was even there. If Emma and her parents hated her then why be around them?

Where was Regina's family? She mustn't have any, Ri realised with a painful jolt that sickened her stomach. She'd finally guessed without having to ask why her parents weren't in Storybrooke. Mother and Father always being in her life was something she'd taken for granted. She didn't seem to have a family of her own either - if she did, where were they? _Does this mean I never get to be with someone I love? Or have children?_

_I'm going to be alone._

And then there was Emma. She and Regina weren't together. Em said nothing would make her leave. _But when she grows up she doesn't want to be with me. Did she change, or did I? What happened to us?_

"Hey, Ri," said Emma kindly, breaking her reverie.

"Hi."

"I want you to come with me."

Ri got up to follow Emma to the door obediently. "Oh. Are you taking me back."

"Back where?"

"That place with the bars. To lock me up."

Emma's heart almost broke. "No, Ri. Of course not."

Emma grabbed her own coat and got Mary Margaret's for Ri to put on so they could go outside. Emma's strategy for handling Ri was rather different from Em's - she was imagining that she was Regina instead of Ri and how she would try to help her. Well, provided that inaccessible Regina would ever accept help from her or let her in. They strolled the sidewalk outside, taking in the quiet Sunday afternoon stillness and Ri spoke up on her own.

"Am I evil?"

Emma pressed her lips into a small sigh. "Ri, there's a difference between that and doing bad things. I won't lie, Regina has done some terrible stuff but there's more to it than just what's on the surface ok?"

"I don't understand it."

"I'm not sure I do either," admitted Emma. "But there's a lot that makes us who we are. And there's a lot of reasons for why we act in certain ways. You might not believe that you'd do these things... but maybe she couldn't see another way. Maybe she felt like she had no choice. And nobody was there to save her..."

"Her life must've been bad. Or maybe it's her that's bad. Is she still like that, Emma?"

Emma stopped her with a hand on her arm. "Can I tell you something, Ri?"

"Yes?"

"I let her down. A little while ago she said she was trying to change... but I didn't believe her. And after I realised, it was too late. I had a chance to change things for her and I missed it."

"Can't you offer it again?" said Ri hopefully. "I'd take it. I really would. And she's me so maybe she still wants the same thing?"

"I know what she wants," Emma admitted.

"She doesn't want to be alone."

Emma nodded and gave her a thin smile. "I've tried that too."

"Emma, please," begged Ri. "I need to know why you don't want to be with her. I'm afraid I'm going to lose Em. I need to know why she's lost you."

"Ri, she didn't lose me. She pushed me away," said Emma quietly.

"Oh," Ri furrowed a brow. "Well, she won't be able to do that forever..."

* * *

When Emma got back to the apartment with a slightly less depressed-looking Ri, Regina was immediately suspicious. She and Emma shared a conspiracy between them to save the girls without the others knowing but they weren't supposed to just tell the teens everything either.

Regina cornered Emma at the first opportunity, pulling her by the sleeve of her sweater away from the others.

"What did you tell her?" demanded Regina.

"What she needed to hear."

"I suppose you elaborated on my long list of transgressions against you and your family."

"Yes, that's exactly what I did, Regina," said Emma sarcastically, gesturing at Ri who managed to give a small smile to Henry chattering away at her. "That's why she's even worse now."

"What part of 'lets save the girls' is letting her find out she's evil in the first place?"

Emma glanced around uncomfortably to see if they were being overheard. She leaned in closer and lowered her voice.

"Withholding the truth from her isn't going to save her. Having someone give her another chance will."

"And that's what you think you're doing? Deigning to give me another chance from the lofty heights of your perfection?"

"No, but I think you should give _yourself_ another chance. Ri wants to be good. Have you forgotten what it's like to be her?"

"No," snapped Regina.

"Then show me I can trust you. I'm sorry about what happened with Archie, I was wrong but you didn't make it easy for me-"

Regina's eyes flashed with anger. "Excuse me, Sheriff, isn't it your job to prove guilt rather than mine to prove innocence?"

Emma felt the barb hit its target but it still annoyed her. "Ok I get it! I can't take that back now, but we're getting nowhere trying to shuffle the blame between us. I understand why you went back to Cora but you are still dangerous. I want to trust you but I can't do that when you're threatening Mary Margaret every five seconds. I have to think of my family."

"I've had ample opportunity to kill her. What does that tell you," Regina pointed out sarcastically.

"Only because if you do it you know you'll lose Henry for good."

"I have only had Henry for _ten years_ ," said Regina, getting weary of having to defend even her non-actions.

The story said the Evil Queen had cast the curse to come to a new land where it was possible to cause harm to Snow White and yet, she hadn't done it. She'd lived in Storybrooke for years without exacting the very revenge that had motivated her to creating the town. _Why?_ It was a long time before she adopted Henry. The Mayor was by no means benevolent but neither was she unchanged by casting the curse and raising a child. With revenge off the table, maybe Regina really wouldn't attack unless she was threatened... which is exactly what happened when Emma turned up in Storybrooke.

"Fine," said Emma with a heavy sigh.

"So what _is_ your plan for saving them?" asked Regina.

"Uh, I don't really have one? We still don't know where they came from or why they're here. Even if we had to send them back right now... how would we?"

Regina's eyebrow furrowed as the paradox occurred to her. "Something must happen ... or maybe it's that they don't go back - if they are from the past."

"Why not?"

"Because, Emma, do you remember any of this happening? I mean, do you remember being Em and coming to Storybrooke."

"No. What does that mean?" said Emma, confused.

Regina explained impatiently. "It means they don't go back to the past the way they are. Otherwise both of us would have memories of all of this already happening."

"So what do we do about them then?"

They both looked to their younger selves who were holding hands and smiling happily at each other, oblivious to the trouble they caused.

"Why do you think they took to each other so quickly," said Regina, folding her arms across herself.

Emma shrugged self-consciously, feeling all the awkwardness of the comparison between the younger girls' romance and their own relationship. "I dunno. They're teenagers."

"Yes, but - " Regina broke off.

"Maybe they're us - like we would've been - before life got in the way. Maybe even like we could be if things were different."

Regina shook her head almost imperceptibly. "There's no us, Emma."

"You're right," said Emma in a flat tone. "There definitely isn't."


	11. Medicine

When Emma and David got to the apartment after work the next afternoon, Mary Margaret and Henry were home from school already. Despite everything that had been going on Emma still had to go to work to keep Storybrooke running crime-free and she'd made Henry go to school as well... but not without a bit of uncertainty the night before about whether he actually had to go or not.

" _I don't want to go to school tomorrow," whined Henry. "I'll miss all the cool stuff that's going on. I wanna stay with Em and Ri."_

" _Henry, you are going to school," said Emma firmly. "You can't cut because you don't wanna go."_

_In the background Em guffawed and sang loudly, "The Sheriff's a hyp-o-crite! The Sheriff's a hyp-o-crite..."_

" _See! Emma, you didn't go," said Henry stubbornly._

" _Henry. I am so done arguing about this! You are going to school. Regina, back me up."_

_Regina barely lifted her eyes from the newspaper she was reading. "He doesn't have to go."_

_Emma's jaw dropped in shock and then she pinned a glare on her. She was completely screwed now by Regina's surprising about-face from her 'strict Mom' role. Doing the responsible parent thing would earn her Henry's wrath but siding with Regina would only let the brunette win at whatever game she was playing. Henry too was torn, his allegiance was firmly placed with Emma usually but he was tempted to go along with his Mom for once ... and that would mean admitting that she could still tell him what to do._

_Em chuckled evilly, recognising what was going on. "Epic troll move."_

_Emma glared at Henry. "You are going, kid. End of story."_

_Henry stomped away to find his backpack and school things._

" _I hope the taste is to your liking, Emma," said Regina breezily._

" _What."_

" _Your own medicine. It's not as much fun when you're the one being undermined at every turn now is it..."_

With the others at work or at school it'd fallen to Regina to take care of the girls for the day. Emma was hesitant to allow it but admitted reluctantly that she and Regina both had an equal claim over the girls and what happened to them. The upshot was that the Girl Most Likely to Cause Trouble was also most likely to obey Regina over any of the other adults.

Not that Em ever let anything stop her if she was really motivated.

Em was pretty excited about losing the cops for the day, figuring that Regina would let her do whatever she wanted and that she'd get to spend plenty of time with Ri. She was partially right, Regina had taken them out and shown them around Storybrooke after Em complained at breakfast about being "stuck inside in the stupid apartment for days. Can't we go somewhere...?"

_That morning, Emma had just been walking out the door when she'd heard Em ask if Regina was going to go to work too, obviously angling for zero supervision._

" _Aren't you the Mayor?" asked Em._

_Emma scoffed "No" before she could answer. "You can't just declare yourself the Mayor again, Regina."_

" _Haha, isn't the Mayor usually the boss of the Sheriff?" teased Em. "Kinky."_

_Emma ignored the comment. "She is not the Mayor any more. Someone else took over, admittedly he's been doing a crap job of it but at least he's not framing people for murders they didn't commit."_

" _Bet he doesn't look as good in a skirt either, eh Sheriff?" said Em, licking her spoon with a smack of the lips._

By the end of the day, Emma was relieved that she hadn't been called to go arrest her younger self for stealing or vandalising or who-knows-what else. Walking in the door that evening, she immediately located the teens in the apartment with her eyes. Regina had brought them back after all and they didn't appear to have gotten into any trouble. Emma relaxed in relief that her gamble hadn't backfired... and then she noticed what Em was wearing.

"Where did she get _that_ ," demanded Emma.

"I didn't buy it for her," said Regina quickly.

"Then she stole it," Emma concluded, narrowing her eyes.

Em piped up indignantly at the accusation. "Hey, po-po, I did _not_ steal it ok? The guy at the music store gave it to me for free, same as the sunnies and a bunch of CDs. I think he liked me."

Em was wearing aviator sunglasses (to shield her eyes from the bright sun indoors perhaps?) and a black t-shirt with huge white block letters that said: FUCK THE POLICE.

Emma was not amused. She went straight over to Em and grabbed the hem and yanked the shirt right over her head in front of everyone.

"Hey! What the hell!" said Em angrily.

"You are not wearing that," Emma snapped and threw the shirt at Em's chest. "Inside-out or not at all. There's a kid in the house. Not to mention it's offensive."

"Whatever," Em grumbled and sloped away to get sympathy from Ri. She of course made sure that Ri noticed her taut bare midriff before replacing her shirt.

Emma set her face into a frown and headed for Mary Margaret in the kitchen. "You can tell her off you know."

Mary Margaret cringed. "I don't know what to say to her. She's already so angry-"

Emma rolled her eyes lightly in aggravation. "You can't just let her do whatever she wants because you're guilty. Geez, I'd have walked all over you... in fact, _I am!_ "

Regina placed a ready cup of hot chocolate in front of Emma who picked it up automatically, hardly noticing who'd made it.

* * *

"I'm going to get evicted!" Mary Margaret groaned, raising her voice above the din of the music in her small apartment. They wouldn't be able to hear the neighbours banging on the walls in anger over the loud volume.

"What are they listening to?" said David almost at a yell. "It sounds like-"

"A garbage compactor," said Regina, rolling her eyes.

"It's Knife Party," Emma muttered.

" _What_ party?" cried Mary Margaret.

Em and Ri were on the couch with their feet up on the coffee table near where Emma's iPod dock was sitting. It was blaring music with a heavy bass beat nearly at full volume. Em had her aviator sunnies on again, even though it was dark, and she had her arm draped around Ri's shoulder girlfriend-at-the-movies style. Every time one of the adults had told her to turn it down the music had gotten louder as if by itself. So they'd stopped asking for the sake of their eardrums.

"This music sounds strange, Em," said Ri, almost having to yell over the music.

Em tipped her sunnies up and brightened with an idea. "Hey! I know what'll cheer you up. Let's dance!"

"Em, I don't know how to dance to this. I don't think the steps I know would go with it."

Em jumped up and pulled Ri with her. "Come on, you must know how to dance, princess?"

"Oh yes." Ri blushed. "Mother had a dancing and singing master come to the estate."

Em was intrigued. "Show me."

Ri smiled self-consciously. "No, Em-"

"Yes! Come on, come on, come on..."

Ri tucked her hair behind her ear, mentally getting ready to start. "Ok. This is my favourite. It's a dance of seduction."

"Sold!" said Em, quick as a flash.

Ri had Em stand in front of her and explained. "Ok. You'll have to be the boy. You're taller."

"Why do I have to be the boy?" whined Em.

"Shhh. Because I know the steps and it's all me anyway. You just have to stand there while I dance around you."

(In the background, Emma snorted and murmured for only Regina to hear: "Impressive grasp of concepts"...)

Ri began to dance light steps around Em, somehow managing to make the medieval dance she knew fit the beat of the music. Though she was normally shy, she actually put on a good show of seduction, using her eye contact and fleeting touches as she moved.

Em was entranced and could hardly take her eyes off her. The peanut gallery was hardly less so, thinking how strange it was to see that "Regina" hadn't always been who she was now. At one time she'd been innocent and light-hearted and here was evidence of it.

Ri began to sing in her sweet light voice, adding her words to the modern music.

_I'm willing to do whatever / If you take me away..._

_You'll make me do whatever / When you take me away..._

Ri trailed a hand across Em's collarbones as she went around her for the last time. Em reached out to grab her but Ri stepped out of the way deftly.

"No, Em! You're not supposed to touch me yet," giggled Ri.

"Not sure I like this anymore," Em grumbled.

Ri stopped in front of her where they'd started. "There. Now it's your turn."

"I have to do _that_?" cried Em.

"No, you have to do the lift," said Ri eagerly, like she was looking forward to it. "You have to take me away. It's really romantic."

"Er-"

"Mm. It's hard to explain. You have to lift me and then turn ... and um..."

Em had a light bulb idea, and called over to where their audience was. "Regina! Show me!"

"I don't remember," said Regina uneasily.

"You're lying," declared both Em and Emma in unison.

Regina went over and placed Em back in the last position of the dance. She stood behind Em and placed her hands on her shoulders while leaning in to whisper the instructions in Em's ear. As she spoke, Em started to giggle, but it was at green eyes across the room that Regina had directed her eyes the whole time.

Em blushed. "Regina, I'm not sure I get it-"

"Watch."

Regina took Em's place and trailed a hand down Ri's cheek to distract her. Then in one swift move she picked Ri up by the waist and lifted her into the turn to finish the dance in a romance-style drop.

Regina went back to her seat leaving Ri a bit perplexed, staring shyly after her.

Em tried not to laugh making a clumsy attempt at repeating the move, this time with her and Ri. But all that happened was her dropping Ri to the floor and then both of them collapsed into giggles and a tangle of limbs. Em started placing kisses all over her face, teasing her by asking: "is it ok to touch you now, princess?"

Thankfully by this time the song was over.

"Having fun being an enabler, Regina?" said Emma, wondering why she was playing matchmaker between the two teens ... especially since they didn't need help in that area.

"You never taught me that part," added Mary Margaret lightly, recognising the dance but not the last move.

"There's only one thing I ever taught you," said Regina.

* * *

Just before bedtime, Henry was already in his pyjamas and smelled of toothpaste when he popped up near Regina's side as she was conjuring the beds again. It surprised her because he didn't voluntarily come near her much, preferring to be with Em and Ri instead.

"Mom, where's my assignment?" said Henry.

Regina was confused why he was asking her, if he had homework due soon she wouldn't know about it since he hadn't lived with her in a while. But he did have a habit of leaving things to the last minute. She hoped he would ask her for help just so she could spend some time with him.

"What assignment, Henry. Is it due tomorrow?" said Regina.

"Nooo," said Henry impatiently. "From ages ago. I already got it back."

Regina frowned. "Oh. Well... won't it be at home with the rest of your schoolwork?"

"Yes, I need you to get it for me."

"I can summon it if you tell me which one or where it would be...?" offered Regina a little hesitantly.

She was expecting him to forbid her from using magic to do it and to walk over in the dark to get the stupid thing but he surprised her by nodding eagerly.

"Okay! It was for science. I did mine on the space-time continuum."

Regina pursed her lips into a fond smile. "Mm yes, I distinctly remember having to sit up till 1am because you forgot about it until the night before it was due."

Emma overheard the conversation as she came out of the bathroom in her pyjamas. "You did it _for_ him?"

Regina and Henry gave her identical annoyed faces.

"No," said Henry, offended. "I did it and Mom sat with me to help."

"It was a very good assignment," said Mary Margaret, smiling. "I gave it an A."

"If I didn't already know my son is a good student I'd be suspicious of the amount of A's you give him, Miss Blanchard," said Regina.

"You never intimidated me _that_ much," said Mary Margaret, but it was rather unconvincing. "Besides, favouritism wouldn't make me a very good teacher."

"Neither would your atrocious arithmetic. I'm glad the curse rectified what your tutors could not."

Mary Margaret had no argument for that so she went back to adding more blankets to the kids' beds. Letting Regina have the last word would be best by far.

Regina held out her palm and a few stapled sheets fluttered as they appeared. She handed them to Henry who immediately started poring over it like he was looking for clues.

"What do you want some old homework for anyway, kid?" asked Emma.

"Yes, Henry, why don't you show it to Emma?" suggested Regina. "I'm sure she would hardly know what completed homework looks like."

Emma's face said "har har".

Henry shook his head earnestly. "No! I can't tell you yet. I need to work on the theory a bit more. If anyone finds out about it before it's time it could ruin everything! Everything could unravel thread by thread!"

His way of talking reminded Emma of how he used to go on and on about Operation Cobra and his fairytale theory. The fairytale "theory" had turned out to be extremely true though... whatever he was up to right now had a good chance of being relevant as well.

"Okay," said Emma, suspicious but playing along. "But you kinda look a bit like a mad scientist the way you're hovering over your little diagrams and equations there, kid."

Henry just gave her a proud raise of his chin and said, "You'll see!"


	12. Two-timing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My never-ending love and gratitude goes to the amazingly talented artist marynesq who has posted some gorgeous fanart of Em and Ri on tumblr. Make sure you check out her stuff because it's awesome! Thanks for reading :). Enjoy!

Emma was at the Sheriff's station when Regina turned up in the middle of the day, reminding her of how in the past the Mayor would randomly drop in to give her shit about how she was doing her job. Of course right now like so many times before, she was caught eating a donut with her boots propped up on the desk looking like an idiot in front of Regina.

_Situation normal,_ Emma thought sarcastically.

She put down her feet and swiveled to face the brunette standing in the doorway to her office. Hiding a sigh of resignation, she tried not to gawk at Regina who was dressed as usual in her impeccable corporate style despite lacking an actual job. The woman could probably make pyjamas look regal. Damn.

"Sheriff Swan. Working hard?" said Regina.

Emma rolled her eyes. "It's lunchtime. Gimme a break."

"Crime doesn't stop to have lunch," said Regina facetiously. "Nor does Evil."

"Do _you_ , Regina? Because if you're not plotting anything there's not much for me to do around here is there. How many days has it been since you tried to kill someone... like, three?"

"It's about to be zero," said Regina darkly.

"Aw I've missed your death threats, I really have, but if you don't follow through it's only making me think that y-... hey, wait a minute. You're supposed to be with the girls!"

"They're fine."

"No, that wasn't the deal. They're not supposed to be wandering around Storybrooke by themselves. Where are they?"

"Em asked me if she could take Ri on a date."

"A date." Emma raised an eyebrow. "And you bought that?"

Regina looked away in annoyance. "I don't see the problem. She just wanted to get milkshakes at the diner."

"Huh," Emma snorted. "By that I'm sure Em didn't mean 'destroy the milkshake machine just for kicks' or 'lick Ri's naked body'."

"Both of those do sound rather fun don't they?"

Emma didn't take her seriously at all. "Regina. Em is not to be trusted. How many times do I have to tell everyone that?"

"She's a teenager who doesn't trust anyone. You can't earn someone's trust if you don't give them a little yourself."

Emma thought that maybe Regina wasn't just talking about Em here, and she smirked triumphantly when the other woman realised what she'd just said. Regina wasn't as amused by the parallels to themselves but she still managed to keep the challenging eye contact without breaking it.

"Wait a sec," said Emma, suddenly realising. "What are you even doing here."

"There's something you should see," said Regina cryptically. She turned to leave, indicating that Emma should follow her.

* * *

"What is this, Em?" said Ri, eyeing the foreign-looking food on the plate in front of her.

Em groaned, mouth watering. "It's a cheeseburger. Oh! I have so much to teach you, young Padawan."

"I don't know what that means."

"Exactly!"

"Here we go, girls," said one of the waitresses appearing at their booth. She was balancing three milkshakes in her fingers and set them down on the table.

"Why do we have three, Em? There's only two of us," said Ri.

"Yep, there should only be one cos this is a date... but I got us chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla so you could try 'em all."

Instead of sitting across from each other Em and Ri were sitting side-by-side in their booth. Em plonked two straws into the choc shake and held the tall steel tumbler between them, showing Ri what she intended.

"See? We share. Gives us an excuse to be really close to each other."

"Oh." Ri blushed, realising their faces were indeed really close. Her gaze switched alternately from Em's green eyes to her lips as they took their first sips.

"Like it?" asked Em.

Ri mm'ed at the taste of the sweet milky drink. "It's very cold and delicious."

"This is my second favourite kind of chocolate and _this..._ " Em grinned and quickly pressed a kiss in Ri's hair near her temple. "Is my first."

They talked about everything and nothing while they ate their way through the burgers and shared the milkshakes. Em told Ri funny stories about the different homes she'd lived in and close calls she'd had when getting into mischief and how she couldn't wait till she was an adult so she could find a proper place in the world and how she had always intended to track down her birth parents one day no matter what...

Ri told Em about what it was like living in a land with magic and unicorns and how she longed to be brave enough to leave the estate one day and see more of it. She was a little wistful talking about her family but she spoke of how she took after her father in personality and her mother in looks. Father taught her to ride when she was small and acquired Rocinante for her. He would do anything for her but it was her mother who set the rules...

Em complained of something called an 'ice-cream headache' so she started dunking her fries into the gooey chocolate and eating them that way instead. By that time Ri had evaluated all of the milkshake flavours carefully before settling on her favourite.

"Sooo what's the verdict, princess?"

"I think I like this one best."

"Vanilla? Boring," teased Em.

"It's blonde. Like you."

Em laughed. "Aw that's cute ... but I hope you're not calling me boring. If I dye my hair pink does that mean you'll like the strawberry one better?"

Ri scrunched an embarrassed smile and shoved her with her shoulder. All that did was encourage Em to squish up closer to her.

"So, this is like courting isn't it?" said Ri. "This 'date'? Except that you didn't ask my parents for permission... and we're not being chaperoned... and I got to say yes or no for myself... and we're both girls..."

Em cut off her list wryly. "Uh yeah, except for those ten reasons it sounds exactly the same."

"And this is what is done in this world when two people like each other?" asked Ri curiously.

"Yeah." Em shrugged happily. "It's nice though, huh?"

"Em," said Ri quietly. "I'm fairly certain being courted isn't like this. Is this how everyone feels on a date?"

"Sometimes but maybe not everyone I guess. How does it feel to you?"

Ri smiled shyly. "Like I don't want it to end."

"Well, that's what the second date is for..." Em winked playfully, but inside her heart was leaping at Ri's words.

* * *

"Uh, what am I looking for, Regina?" asked Emma, looking around Main Street aimlessly. It was pretty cold out and as she bounced on her toes a little to keep warm she could see her breath cloud in front of her.

"It's gone. Can't you see that?"

"No." Emma rubbed her shivering arms, distracted by the cold. "Seriously, _what_ is gone?"

"That!" Regina gestured to the sky above the library, losing patience with the blonde's dim-wittedness. "The town clock. It's gone."

"Oh!" said Emma, realising she was right with a comical start. "Ok, now I see. Calm down."

The clocktower that normally rose above the library had completely disappeared. Emma remembered noticing it when she first came to Storybrooke. Henry said it had never worked his whole life but it started ticking again when 'the Saviour' arrived. Emma herself had only ever seen it telling the correct time so she didn't quite believe his connecting it to her arrival, dismissing it back then as the kid's overactive imagination.

Now the clock had disappeared.

"But how?" said Emma, squinting into the glaring overcast sky. "Half of me thinks this is Em's work but even _this_ is beyond her magical ability."

"What about yours?" asked Regina pointedly.

"I didn't do it."

"What does it mean?" said Regina. "It never worked until you came and now it's disappeared completely. It's obviously you, whether you know it or not."

"Hey." Emma wasn't sure why but she took offense to that.

Regina frowned, noticing she was still doing her shivering 'I'm cold' dance. "Where's your jacket, Emma?"

Emma hardly heard it because Marco and Archie approached them to say good day. They had Pongo panting on a leash beside them, taking him for one of his many daily walks. Emma reached down to pat the dog's head but it was Regina that he went to, sniffing her shoes curiously.

"Good afternoon, Sheriff Emma," said Marco in his thick accented voice. He nodded slightly to acknowledge Regina.

"Hey guys," said Emma. "Taking Pongo for a walk?"

"Yes," said Archie in his friendly but humble manner. "Not too many patients anymore I'm afraid. Now that everyone knows my degree came from the curse..."

"Oh well, um," Emma shrugged awkwardly. "Regina's still driving everyone crazy so perhaps business will pick up?"

"The morgue's will," muttered Regina under her breath.

"Hey guys, do you two know what happened to the clocktower?" Emma pointed up at the library roof and they looked up.

"What clocktower?" asked Archie blankly.

"There is no clocktower," said Marco.

"Yes," Emma said impatiently. "I know it's gone _now,_ but what happened to it? The town clock above the library."

Marco shrugged and shook his head with certainty. "There has never been a clock there."

"Of course there has! It was there um … last time I looked. But now it's gone. Archie tell him."

"Emma, I don't know what to tell you," Archie shrugged helplessly. "I don't remember any clock."

Emma sent a worried glance to Regina. Not only had the clocktower apparently disappeared, it seemed that the two men didn't even recall that there ever had been a clock above the library in the first place. Were they the crazy ones or were the guys? It definitely _had_ been there before, right?

"Well, anyway, we'd best be off. Have a nice day, Emma. Regina." Archie smiled and nodded his head politely in farewell.

"Yes! Time's disappearing on us no?" joked Marco, tapping his wrist where a watch should have been.

Once they were gone, Regina grabbed Emma's elbow and hissed at her. "Did you hear what he _said_?"

"Yes," said Emma patronisingly. "It was just an expression, Regina. Time can't literally disappear."

"So you think this is just some coincidence. _Time disappears_ mere days after our teenage selves inexplicably get transported from the past - through _time_ \- to Storybrooke? A place that has a history of losing _time_?"

"It's just a clock. It doesn't mean time itself is gone. That doesn't even make sense, in fact it's stupid."

"Something is going on here!"

"Hey," Emma's mouth dropped open in realisation. "This is exactly what I said would happen, remember? You thought I was just being an idiot. Stuff _is_ starting to randomly disappear."

"It's not random. It's one thing and it's specifically related to the circumstances."

"Whatever! I was right. We changed something in the past and now it's affecting the present... but what did we change? Was it Ri finding out about the curse? It's gotta be that."

"No." Regina disagreed. "We can't assume it was that. It could've been anything either of the girls found out. Even something small. Or maybe something inconsequential happened that ended up causing a chain reaction leading to a bigger event... it could be anything."

Emma raised a sarcastic eyebrow. "'It could be anything'? Well that should make it easy to figure out then huh. Meanwhile time is frozen again, just like when everyone was cursed."

Regina's eyes unfocused for a minute and she went through her thoughts aloud. "No. It's not like before when time was stuck on the same day, your birthday... And time hasn't disappeared completely... otherwise we wouldn't have day and night... Em's back wouldn't heal... fruit wouldn't rot..."

"It's always apples with you, isn't it," teased Emma, breaking her train of thought.

When Regina stalked away, Emma was left watching after her happily. Her teeth were no longer chattering from cold.

* * *

Emma pounced on Mary Margaret as soon as her mother got home that afternoon. The schoolteacher hadn't even had time to take off her scarf and coat or put down her bag of school things when her daughter accosted her.

"Mary Margaret! Tell us we're not crazy!" pleaded Emma, tugging at her mother's arm.

Mary Margaret looked like she wasn't very convinced of it given Emma's behaviour right now. She sent a side glance to Regina who was standing nearby with her arms crossed in irritation like she'd had to put up with this for a while already.

"Um, you're not crazy?"

Emma groaned in frustration. "Me and Regina! Everyone we ask can't see what the problem is, they can't even remember, everyone denies it was ever there, and now it's making me question whether it was there in the first place and I don't know what to think."

"Emma, are you talking about... you and Regina?" said Mary Margaret slowly.

"No-oo! The clocktower above the library. There was one - right?!"

Mary Margaret gave her daughter a sympathetic face. "Emma, I can see that you're frustrated. But I don't know what you're talking about."

"Argh!" Emma growled. She put her hands to her temples and spun around.

"Miss Blanchard, do you remember if there was ever a clocktower above the Public Library," asked Regina clearly, trying to get to the bottom of this.

"No." Mary Margaret shook her head. "Nothing like that. The library's been closed for as long as I can remember."

Emma froze in shock at the exact words the townspeople used to say before the curse was broken.

"What the hell is going on here," said Emma worriedly. "Mary Margaret, do you remember that you're Snow White, that you're my mother, and how after the curse broke we went to Fairytale land...? Do you remember Em and Ri?"

"Yes, I remember all of that. Of course. Why are you asking?"

Emma sighed in relief. "So you remember everything then."

"She could hardly tell you what she's forgotten," said Regina, rolling her eyes. She stopped herself from adding "idiot" to the end of it.

The front door to the apartment opened and Henry and David returned carrying brown paper bags full of groceries.

"Lucky we went to the store, buddy! The Emma's are eating us out of house and home," said David, holding the door open with his foot.

Emma pounced on her father next. "David, where's the clocktower?!"

"You're certainly doing a fine job of convincing them you're not crazy," mumbled Regina.

"Um, what clocktower?" asked David blankly.

"Above the library?" said Henry. "Where it's always been?"

"YES!" Emma pointed to the boy. "See! Not crazy! He remembers too. There was definitely a clock."

"You're kinda acting crazy, Emma," laughed Henry. "What's going on?"

Regina went over to the boy and took the heavy groceries from him so he could take off his cold-weather gear. She put her hand to his cheeks, noticing they were a little pinkened by wind burn.

"We're not sure, Henry," said Regina, trying to smile like it wasn't worrying her.

"Where's Em and Ri?" asked Henry.

"They went to the diner for a little while," said Regina. "I told Em they had to be back by four... which means they'll be back by five."

Regina explained to him what they'd found that day and how every Storybrooker they'd asked couldn't recall the town clock ever existing.

"So something got changed in the past and it's affecting the present and now everyone's memories are changing because of that?" summarised Henry.

"Not everyone's," said Regina. "Only you, me, and Emma remember the way it was the first time around."

"That's obvious then," said Henry.

"Kid, do you know something?" said Emma eagerly.

Henry shrugged casually, giving both his mothers a smile. "Sure. We're the only three who were never cursed."


	13. In two minds

"Em, it's getting dark... should we go back soon?" said Ri.

They were alone in the playground sitting on the swings in the fading light. It was starting to get rather cold, so Em had gotten Ri to sit in her lap so they could swing together and share body heat. They'd had to leave the diner when Granny had come over to tell them she wanted to set up for the dinner sitting. Even though the diner was mere blocks from Mary Margaret's apartment, the teenagers had taken a long route home stopping by the park on the way.

"Regina said 4pm but obviously that was just a guideline," said Em. "You getting cold?"

"A little," said Ri. "I can feel you shivering, Em. You're cold. We should go back."

"No," whined Em at a whisper. "I wanna stay here with you."

Em settled Ri back against her chest and then kicked off the ground so they could swing gently back-n-forth.

"Why do you think they're not together," asked Ri. "Regina and Emma?"

"I dunno. They're adults." Em shrugged. "Adults let stupid stuff get in the way of what they want all the time."

"But they're us," said Ri. "They're who we're going to be one day."

Em snorted. "I'm never going to be that boring and cranky."

"You were a little cranky when that boy came over to interrupt us today," teased Ri.

"Ha. He could have just got his own ketchup bottle instead of trying to nick ours! Maybe I shouldn't have squirted him with it though. Bet Emma wouldn't have done that. I still can't get over the fact that one day I'm Sheriff and people trust me and- ... and I have parents."

Ri turned her face so she could kiss Em's cheek. "I know how much you want to find them, Em, and now you have. Mary Margaret and David are nice. Maybe you could try talking to them?"

"I - I kinda want to - but part of me still hates them for abandoning me - and-" Em took a shaky breath. "I'm afraid that I might - love them - and they won't love me back."

"Oh Em, they will. I know it. See how much they love Emma?"

Em sniffled and nudged her glasses higher. "Yeah, but that's just cos she's all goody-two-shoes now. I bet they didn't know she used to be a bratty streetkid before I showed up. She must've changed so they would like her. If they knew who she really was, maybe they wouldn't be the same."

"I think you should give them a chance. Maybe they'll surprise you."

Em nudged her a little. "What about you. What do you think of Regina?"

"I'm afraid of her."

"Why."

"Because she's - " Ri looked down sadly, not wanting to complete the sentence in case it cost her everything.

"Hey, she's strong ok? She seems like she knows who she is and what she wants. I know you're scared but you're gonna get there one day, Ri."

"I'm not sure I want to."

"Well, I guess that's the only good thing about being an adult, you get to choose who you want to be... sorta. There's always plenty of people around who try to tell you who you are and you just gotta punch back and say: 'No, this is who I am.'"

"And who am I?"

Em smiled and pressed their foreheads together. "You are Ri and you have a good heart."

Ri's eyes filled instantly with tears, hearing what she desperately craved and her heart brimmed with what she felt for Em in that moment.

Em dug her heels into the sand and stopped the swing so she could turn Ri's face gently, bringing their lips together for a soft and slow kiss that melted with the minutes.

"You shouldn't be doing that," said a disapproving voice, startling them apart.

Em immediately went on the defensive. In the dim light, standing at the each of the sandpit was a middle-aged woman wearing a dowdy navy-blue outfit with a small gold cross pinned to her lapel.

"Huh. I shouldn't be kissing my girlfriend? Who the hell are you to tell me what to do."

"You shouldn't be with her," said the Blue Fairy seriously.

Em sneered sarcastically. "Well, that's all the judgement we've got time for today, so we'd better be going."

Em glared and patted Ri's shoulder to get her up so they could get away from the judgey nun.

"She is not who she seems," said the Blue Fairy.

"I know who she is," said Em stubbornly, getting increasingly annoyed with having to defend themselves to a random stranger. She grabbed Ri's hand and walked away.

The Blue Fairy curled her mouth humourlessly, watching the teens leave hand-in-hand. When Mary Margaret and David came to her and told her what had happened, she almost hadn't believed it. But now seeing them for herself - the teenage versions of the Saviour and the Evil Queen here in Storybrooke, plucked out of their disparate pasts - she believed that this was an opportunity not to be missed.

"I doubt this was what Henry had in mind," said The Blue Fairy to herself.

* * *

Regina was staring out of the window of Mary Margaret's apartment, looking over Storybrooke's Main Street as darkness was falling. She had been confident earlier in her decision to give Em a bit of independence, now she only hoped that it wouldn't come back to bite her. After all, Emma knew herself better than she did. Regina felt rather than heard someone come up behind her.

"They should be back by now," murmured Regina.

"They are," said Emma confidently. "They're just outside on the sidewalk."

"Oh." _Emma's magic. What else can she do?_

"The kiss at the end of the date I suppose. You know," Emma shrugged, trying to smile.

"I don't. I've never been on one."

"Actually you have - with me." Emma saw Regina start to frown so she amended herself quickly. "When you were Ri and I was Em."

"Neither of us remembers so it may as well have not happened."

"But it is happening - and with your encouragement - even though it might be screwing up the present and making stuff disappear. Why do you want them together, Regina?" blurted Emma.

"I think you know why."

Emma's heart leaped into her throat when she felt Regina's touch. The tension in the air crackled loudly between them.

"W-what are you doing?" stammered Emma.

Regina seemed confused at her own actions and drew back.

"You're falling for it aren't you? You see their cute little teenage romance and want one of your own. You think we can have what they have."

Stinging with rejection, Regina glared at her with hurt eyes. "I can see you don't."

Emma stammered her reasons nervously. "Regina, they're not us. We're not them. We're different people now. Too much has happened. It's too late for us now-"

"You are nothing like Em," snarled Regina.

"That's right, I'm not. And _you_ ," Emma stabbed with her finger as well as her voice, "are nothing like Ri. I can't believe that sweet girl grows up to be a fucking psychopath, stealing people's hearts and casting dark curses! I wanted my kid to go to someone better than me. Why couldn't you have just been good! Why did you have to be screwed up as well?"

Regina bristled and glared at her. "You don't get to regret that decision because you don't like the outcome."

But Emma was gearing up for a heated fight now, with all the frustrations and grievances of the past and present coming out. It was like poison being sucked from a wound.

"I still can't get over the fact that my kid ended up with the Evil Queen. It's insane! You ruined my life before I was even born, you ripped me out of my mother's arms and kept us apart my whole life. The same person you tried to kill over and over out of some misguided sense of revenge. How many people have you killed, Regina? What else are you responsible for?"

"I only-"

"Do you enjoy it? Hurting people. Destroying lives. Separating families. Has it made you happy? Tell me!"

"No."

"Good, cos you certainly don't look like you got your happy ending. Serves you right if you're just as miserable as the rest of us."

Regina merely tolerated the angry diatribe as though she was hearing tiresome complaints from the peasantry that were beneath her dignity to address.

Emma shook her head in reproach. "So you did all this because Snow White sold you out and your boyfriend got killed? Other people lose their loved ones every single day, Regina, their parents, or children, or friends, or wives, and sometimes it's by chance and sometimes it's not but everyone feels the same way when they lose someone ... it kills them inside and they're sick with grief too but what makes YOU so special that you have to try to destroy the world over yours?"

Regina's eyes glowered like burning coals. "What would you know about loss? You've never had anyone. I'm not like other people. I don't know why."

"That's the worst part, Regina. Sometimes I can't believe _who you are_."

"Thank you, Emma," said Regina sarcastically, somehow making it sound more like 'Fuck you' in her hard commanding voice. "For seeing exactly what everyone else sees. Who I used to be is all I'll ever be to everyone isn't it? I'll never be free of it. I thought you were different. But you're not strong enough to look past all that are you, _Saviour_? You're so righteous now you've discovered that you were born on the winning team and everything you do is justified because you happen to be Good. You don't deserve the word. You don't want me to touch you? What, are you afraid you'll get the stain of Evil on yourself-"

Emma shook her head. "This is not happening."

"-Or are you afraid you'll destroy me because I'm already weakened? My heart is already broken, my mind is twisted, my body defiled. You can't stand it can you? Em is stronger than you are. At least she knows what she feels."

"Em does not love Ri, she's just trying to get into her pants," said Emma dismissively. "Or pantaloons or whatever the hell they wore back then."

"You don't give either of them enough credit. They know themselves better than you do."

"Yeah right, Ri knows nothing about the world. She fell in love with the first person she met! That's not real. She doesn't love Em, she loves the _idea_ of Em."

"You're scared," Regina shook her head with a soulless smile. "You don't want to examine them too closely in case you see it. But you do look at them and wonder ... if you can have what they have. You've been alone your whole life, I bet you're dying to know what's it's like ... what you think you don't deserve. Everything comes back to being abandoned with you doesn't it? What you want most is to be wanted, for someone to come and prove to you that you're not alone."

Emma could barely stop her eyes from watering but she forced it away, trying hard to keep her voice from wavering. "Don't confuse me for _you_. I am not going there with you, Regina. Not again."

Regina glared at her, smarting from the reference. "You would hold that against me forever?"

"You made yourself quite clear the first time how much the idea of being with me disgusts you. You don't get to do this now, Regina. You rejected _me_. After everything that's happened... I can't do this now. Everyone trusts me, I can't give them up."

"Everything has changed. I know that," admitted Regina softly, staring out the window again. "I thought that if anyone could understand, it'd be you-"

Regina turned back towards her only to see that Emma was already walking away from her and she rolled her eyes. "Fine. Run away. You're good at that."

Regina regretted the words before she even said them and the image of Emma's stricken face and tear-filled eyes did not leave her mind soon afterwards. All it ever took was a spark to start a fight between them but this was the first time that Emma had taken her to task for what she'd done to her personally. There were so many victims of her crimes yet the one person she hadn't set out to hurt was the one she'd hurt the most. The former Evil Queen hadn't known then that one day she'd come to know that person far better than she should. There was so much damage shared between them … and she knew that Emma was not likely to forgive her.

* * *

The teens were outside the apartment, just about to go upstairs, when Em stopped and turned to face her girlfriend.

"Ri, does it bother you that we're both girls?" asked Em, hoping like hell that she wasn't opening a can of worms by asking.

"I don't think so. Does it bother you?"

"No way. I don't care what people think - except you. Ri, where you come from... are there ever any girls who are in love with each other? Or two boys?"

Ri shook her head. "No, I never heard of that happening. Is it not ok here either? I assumed things were different here."

"Depends on who you ask. I'm really sorry our date got ruined."

"Ruined?"

"Yeah, you know. The nun."

"It wasn't ruined, I had a lovely time with you today. But she was right, Em," admitted Ri quietly. "There are things you don't know."

"Whatever it is, it won't change how we feel about each other," Em said confidently.

"Em, I don't think you understand."

"Try me."

Ri closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Em could see she was still upset and it made her concerned. What could Ri possibly have to tell her that she thought would change her mind - and her heart?

"I can't tell you," whispered Ri painfully. "But I can't keep it from you either. It's my fault."

Em cupped her face and got her to look up. "Ri, what is it? You're not ok, whatever it is. Let me help you?"

"I'm the reason your parents gave you up," Ri confessed, half regretting it already. She immediately stepped back, preparing for Em to recoil from her in disgust.

"Did you learn something about their past - our future?" asked Em with a frown.

Ri nodded and the first of several tears slipped down her cheeks as she explained everything. She spoke about finding the book, and how it told her all about Regina and the curse and who she would grow up to become...

It wasn't fair to let things between them go any further while withholding all of it from her and though she knew it might be the last time Em looked at her without hate in her eyes, she loved her enough to tell her the truth.

Her voice was ragged raw and pained by the end of the tale. "Em, I hurt you so much! It's because of me that you grew up without your family. You've been alone your whole life. You can't possibly forgive me. I can never forgive myself-"

_This is it. I've lost her._ Ri squeezed her eyes shut and swiped at her wet cheeks. "I'm so sorry. If I could change things I would-"

"No."

Em shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and looked at the ground.

"I don't think you know the whole story. Regina never does anything without a good reason, and for her to do this ... I don't think she had a choice."

Ri's eyes darted up hopefully. "You think there's something that explains why I did what I did? How could there be."

"What _Regina_ did. You are not her yet."

"But I will be one day... and she still hasn't come through it. I can see it. I don't want to feel like this forever. I don't want to be alone."

"Me either."

Em stepped in to close the distance between them. She cradled Ri's face with both her hands and made sure Ri could see all of what she was about to say.

"Ri. I promise you now, no matter what, one day we will both get through this. They need our help. We're going to save ourselves."

Ri's face crumpled and she threw her arms around Em and cried.

* * *

Emma stabbed the spoon into the ice-cream container and flung spoonfuls into a bowl haphazardly. The box got thrown back into the freezer and the door slammed after it. She frowned in concentration and squirted way too much chocolate sauce over her pile of ice-cream, getting messy blobs of it all over the surrounding bench as well.

"What'd you do," said Henry crossly.

"I'll clean it up later. Who died and made you boss of the kitchen?" grumbled Emma.

"No," said Henry indignantly. "What did you do to Mom?"

Emma paused her jerky movements but didn't look up. "What do you mean."

"She's gone home!"

"Yeah, well... good." Emma threw the spoon into the bowl with a clatter. "I'm sure she's had enough of living here with us anyway. She hates my parents and she hates me."

"Emma!"

Emma grabbed her bowl and went over to sit in the loveseat underneath the window. She propped her feet up on the cushions and balanced her bowl of ice-cream on her knees. Henry stood next to her, glaring at her the whole time while she ate. He propped his hands on his hips, looking annoyingly like someone else in that stance.

"You did something to her! She was fine before."

"What makes you think it was me, kid? Maybe it was her. It always is."

"Are you fighting again?"

Emma spooned ice-cream into her mouth, dripping it down her front without noticing. Her throat was burning from suppressing the urge to cry and she was hoping the cold would soothe it. This damn apartment was way too small, there was nowhere to go. She ignored Henry's questioning but she was not enjoying her dessert at all.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this!" cried Henry. "You're not supposed to fight _more_. Why are things getting worse?"

Seeing that Emma was done talking about whatever had happened, Henry went off to the bedroom. He shifted the papers sitting on his laptop, but there were no answers there so he dumped the contents of his backpack on the bed.

A small scroll of paper fell out onto the quilt among his schoolbooks and he picked it up and unfurled it. As Henry re-read the words back to himself he wondered where things had gone wrong. The Blue Fairy warned him but he hadn't listened and now things were going badly.

This wasn't what he'd had in mind.


	14. Work experience

At the Sheriff's station the next day, Em swung on the swivel chair so fast she nearly launched herself out of it.

"What do you and Emma _do_ all day?! Is this town so boring that there's not even any crime?" complained Em.

David didn't look up from the forms he was preparing for Emma to sign. "Crime doubled when you turned up."

Since Regina had gone home the night before after their knockdown-drag-out fight, Emma and her parents had to figure out other arrangements for the teens during the day. They'd decided that Em would go to work with Emma and David (all the better to keep her out of trouble) and Ri would go to school with Mary Margaret under the guise of being a teacher's aide.

Em wasn't thrilled but when she saw that Ri was, she didn't argue.

Emma had a few meetings at Town Hall and a few call-outs to attend to so she left Em with David, hoping that he'd learned his lesson by now about keeping an eye on the teen.

"Storybrooke is a safe town, a place for families - or at least, it was," admitted David, looking up from his paperwork.

Em put a finger to her chin. "Mm yeah, kinda makes you wonder doesn't it. Regina's sooo evil that she created this _horrible little town_ for you all to live in?"

David smiled at her cynicism. "It's not safe any more. Part of that is Regina's own doing."

"Whatever."

Em got up to go lock herself in the corner cell and hang on the bars from inside. But that only amused her for about three-and-a-half seconds.

"Seriously? Is something going to happen or are we just gonna sit in this office all day? Don't you cops ever go out and cap some punks or something... No? How about rescuing cats out of trees then. Finding lost dogs... anything? I oughta go and raise some hell myself just so we have something to do. I'M BORED!"

"Em!" David remonstrated her sharply.

"Yes, _Dad_?" snarked Em.

David started at the title. Emma had never once called him that, even in jest, and he wasn't sure how it felt to hear it from either of them. Sometimes it was hard to reconcile the image of the tiny baby he'd placed in a wardrobe with the teenage version of his daughter or even the grownup one. Emma was a strong woman, more independent and aloof than most- he'd missed the small window of her life when she'd needed a Daddy.

"Enough," sighed David. "I was going to wait until Emma gets back but I think I'll take you with me now."

Em appeared outside of the locked cell somehow, even though David still had the keys in his pocket. David grabbed his jacket and slung it around his shoulders and then tossed Em's at her.

"Where are we going?" asked Em suspiciously.

David shrugged, fixing his collar. "To cap some punks."

"I want a gun-" started Em.

David laughed loudly. "No."

"- fine. Then I want a badge," said Em, pouting adorably.

"I'm the Deputy. I wear the badge."

"You mean _this_ badge?" Em said innocently, pointing to the gold star suddenly pinned to her own jacket.

David reached for his belt where his badge no longer resided. "But how- ?"

Em gave him a thousand-watt grin.

His surprise turned to amusement and he nodded with an impressed smile. 'That's my girl'. "Okay. You can wear the badge, Deputy Swan. Let's go."

"Wherever we're going... this better not be lame," warned Em.

* * *

David pulled the police cruiser up to the curb near a church and Em sighed in disappointment.

"I'm not going in there," said Em stubbornly.

"We're not going in there."

"Where then?"

"Next door," said David, without elaborating further.

The building next door turned out to be pretty run-down and in desperate need of a bit of maintenance or more likely, funds to do so. There was a smattering of graffiti on the side of the bricks and bits of trash lying randomly around on the ill-kept lawn. But inside was a different story.

"Woah," said Em, when she and David entered. "What is this place?"

"Emma." David shrugged and that was all the explanation he gave.

Though the expansive room was mostly empty it was obviously intended as a hangout for children and teenagers. There was a tired-looking pool table near the back of the room and a TV with a games system chained to the table where it sat, there were assorted couches most of which had seen better days, and in the corner there were a few baskets of battered toys and a small bookcase.

David went over to the bookcase with the crate he'd brought with him and started adding books to the shelves.

"Emma did this?" guessed Em, looking around carefully.

"Emma's like you, Em. She thought there wasn't much crime in town and she had some time to take on a project close to her heart. So she organised the 'KidSpace' here so that disadvantaged teens and children could have a safe place to get together and hang out."

"It looks just like -" Em broke off quietly.

David went on as if he didn't notice. "I'm not sure how she managed it but she got an anonymous donor, it was enough to rent this place and get the games system. Most of the rest of the stuff came from Goodwill but we're accepting whatever people want to give."

Em was quiet and without complaint for the few hours that she and David spent tidying up and cleaning the place. They re-stocked the first-aid kit with supplies, filled the mini-fridge with bottles of water and protein bars, and added to the piles of information pamphlets and cards with helpline numbers listed on them.

"She didn't forget me," Em said to herself.

David called from the door. "Em! You coming? I thought we'd grab lunch and go to the school."

Em grinned happily and ran after him. "We're going to see Ri? Awesome!"

* * *

"Um, Mar?" David looked out the classroom window where there was a whole lot of squealing and laughter going on. "Is that Ri outside? Why have the children tied her to a tree with a skipping rope?"

"She was reading them some fairytales and did such a good job of 'the Evil Queen voice' that they wanted to re-enact some of the scenes outside."

Em shot Mary Margaret a glare of accusation. "And you let them. Knowing how she feels about finding out about all of that."

Mary Margaret softened her manner. "She was ok with it. It was her idea. Besides, by the end of the story I'm pretty sure most of the kids were in love with her and rooting for Evil anyway."

The schoolteacher went back to grading quizzes at her desk just as the shrill school bell rang, signalling time for lunch.

David checked out the window and chuckled, seeing that the kids had left Ri tied up before they ran away. "I'll go rescue her."

Emma dropped the Granny's takeaway bags on the teacher's desk at the front of the room and handed Mary Margaret's lunchbag over to her.

"I got you this too," Em said, eyes downcast, handing out another smaller white paper bag.

Mary Margaret hid her surprise at finding a cookie inside. "Oh, Em. I love it."

"You love it," repeated Em, listening carefully.

"Yes, of course. Thankyou."

Em sat on one of the student's desks and pulled a cheeseburger out of her lunch bag.

"I'm starving!" she groaned and took her first bite gratefully.

"What did Emma and David have you do at work this morning?" asked Mary Margaret, taking out her own salad wrap.

Em shrugged. "Stuff."

"You must've done something," teased Mary Margaret gently.

"Yep." Em chewed and shoved a handful of fries into her mouth.

_Goodness, getting answers from a teenager is like pulling teeth!_ thought Mary Margaret. She didn't have this much trouble talking to Emma the first time they'd met. In fact, adult Emma had taken to her so quickly that she'd tried to cover it up. Her roommate had told her much later that she'd kicked herself as soon as she'd rejected Mary Margaret's room offer the first time and that she hadn't liked living with anyone before.

"I see you've been awarded a gold star."

Em rolled her eyes. "Yup, I'm officially one of the hypocrite cops now."

"It suits you."

"What, hypocrisy?" scoffed Em, slurping her milkshake.

"No. Emma's badge." Mary Margaret smiled, remembering how proud and pleased she had been that Emma had taken the job and decided to stay in town.

"It's the Deputy's badge, not Emma's."

"It used to be hers. Emma was Deputy here before she was promoted to Sheriff."

Em scoffed again. "What'd she do. Kill him for his badge or somethin'? Ha, sounds like something I would do."

Mary Margaret felt a wave of grief, reminded of the circumstances that resulted in Emma's promotion. Em was clearly joking and though it was far from the truth the former Sheriff had died in office, leaving behind nothing but sorrow for those who had known the gentle man.

"So. You're totally against Emma being with Regina huh," said Em.

Em's tone was conversational but Mary Margaret suddenly felt like she should be hearing a loud warning siren going off. She hadn't explicitly said anything like that in Em's earshot but her teenager daughter had obviously picked up on much more than she let on and Ri must have told her everything she'd found out about the curse too.

"What makes you think that."

Em slurped her milkshake again. "You hate Regina."

"I've known her a long time. I don't hate her," said Mary Margaret softly.

"You don't want me to be with Ri either."

"Em, that's different, that's-"

"Whatever." Em jumped up and scrunched up her lunchbag. She tossed the crumpled paper towards the bin - missed - and headed for the door.

The chair scraped loudly when Mary Margaret stood and called after her. "Em, don't go! Let me explain."

"Why'd you lie?" Em stopped in the doorway and glared over her shoulder.

"I didn't-"

"About the cookie."

Mary Margaret closed her eyes and berated herself in her mind. She'd told a 'harmless' lie and it had come back to bite her - badly. She should've known better, she knew about Em's superpower and how much resentment the teen was already harbouring against her. She'd miserably failed the test without even knowing she was being examined.

"Em. It's only because I don't like pistachios. I said I loved it because I love the fact that you thought to give it to me. I didn't want to hurt you -"

"Yeah well, that's the thing isn't it? You hurt people without intending to."

"I'm sorry I lied to you but I-"

Em cut off her weak justifications. "I've always been able to spot a liar and ya know what I've learned? After the first lie... don't trust what comes after that. You even lied about lying."

"Em, please-" Mary Margaret begged.

When Em walked out, Mary Margaret let her face fall into her hands.

She tried to tell herself that Em would come around eventually - since when did teenage girls get on with their mothers? Mary Margaret reminded herself that her relationship with Emma was far less fractured these days … but she couldn't help but despair that her daughter would never truly forgive her. The former Snow White had no experience of mothers, neither having one nor being one. The last thing she'd ever wanted was for her daughter to grow up without a mother as well. The worst part was that it had been her choice. She was a mother yet she'd missed out on being one.

* * *

Ri was still tied to the tree with her hands bound behind her, but the children were gone. Her face lit up hopefully when she saw David approaching.

"Hi, David! Is Em with you?"

David smiled. "She sure is."

"Is she having a good day? I know she wasn't very happy this morning about going to work with you. I mean, not that it was because of you! She wasn't happy about us being separated and she's still not sure how she feels about Emma being Sheriff. She doesn't think she's good enough, but I know she is. Was she ok?"

David nodded, smiling at her rambling. "She did very well."

"Could you please untie me so that I can go see her?" said Ri politely.

"Actually, I thought I'd leave you here."

"Ok," said Ri good-naturedly. "Can you get Em to come here then?"

David chuckled at her naivete but he felt a bit mean. He hadn't really thought she would fall for it. Regina certainly wouldn't have fallen for it - or tolerated such an indignity. Sometimes the two of them were so different it was funny... and then he remembered what young Regina must've been through that caused that innocence to be stripped from her.

"Of course I'm gonna untie you, Ri. It was just a joke."

"Oh! The children said they'd be back to untie me but I suppose they forgot."

"Ugh! What have they done here?" groused David, pulling at the ends of the skipping rope dangling from a huge knot.

He started trying to sort out the tangle of skipping rope holding Ri captive - or ropes as it appeared. They were tied in some complicated system of knots around her wrists. Rather tightly too. David frowned, wondering why the girl hadn't complained. He could feel that her hands were going cold and it alarmed him.

"Ri, honey, are your hands ok? This is tied really tight."

"They're just children, they didn't mean it. They said my hands were where my magic resides."

David growled in frustration, pulling at the tangles again. This would be much quicker if he had a-

"Ri, I'm just gonna run and get a knife. Can you - I was going to say 'hold tight' - but will you be alright for a second?"

Ri nodded. "I'll wait here."

David took off for the school building at a sprint and while she waited, Ri tried to wiggle her fingers to get some feeling back into them. It was starting to feel very uncomfortable and she winced.

"You should get used to it," said a woman's voice, from behind her.

Once the woman moved to stand in her line of sight, Ri could see that it was the same lady who she had seen in the park after her date with Em.

"I'm sorry?"

"You should get used to being held captive," said The Blue Fairy. "This and worse is what awaits you as punishment for your many crimes against the realm, Your Majesty."

"I have no title," said Ri quietly. "Please address me as 'Regina'. I am also called Ri by those who know me."

"Those who should know better than to want to know you."

"I've read much about justice. Is it fair to blame me for what I haven't done yet," asked Ri, lowering her eyes.

"You are Regina, are you not? Is it fair that her war against the kingdom resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people including children? Many of them would not be as old as the ones in this playground ... but they will never play again. You took their lives."

"Ch-children?"

The Blue Fairy left as quickly as she'd come, satisfied that the seed she'd planted had taken root.

Even though it only took David a few minutes to run inside to the janitor's closet and procure a knife, by the time he got back to Ri he saw that her pallor was ashen.

"Ri! Stay still so I don't cut you." David cut through the ropes quickly freeing her hands.

"I'm okay," the teen said weakly, once she was released.

David threw down the knife and rubbed her hands between his own until he felt the heat return.

"Maybe you shouldn't have saved them," murmured Ri.

David sighed and put a hand to her shoulder. "Come on, let's go and see Em."

"Yes, please. I'd love to see her."

They were heading back across the playground towards the school building when David felt the buzz on his hip and grabbed his phone. The display read "1 new message" and when he opened it he saw a green bubble saying:

STORYBROOKE IS SHRINKING!

David was confused by the nonsensical text message. What the hell did that mean?

"Is that your magic mirror talking to you, David?" asked Ri curiously.

"Yes, sort of," chuckled David, then frowned at the screen again. "Never mind, I think it's just Leroy drunk-dialing me again. Let's go."


	15. Show and tell

"Breaking and entering, Sheriff Swan? The door was locked." Regina didn't even look up.

Emma shrugged and leaned against the doorway. "When I need to get in somewhere... I do."

She would never have believed that the former Mayor would opt for such an informality unless she'd seen it for herself, but Regina was sitting on the _floor_ of her bedroom. There was a large stationery-type box sitting next to her and she appeared to be flicking through piles of photographs of Henry.

"Regina, I'm uh - sorry about last night," said Emma, frowning. "Henry's ticked at me cos he thinks I did something to you to make you leave. We took the girls to work with us today in case you're wondering, but I finished early so I could uh, I just came to make sure you were okay."

Regina ignored the question, instead posing one of her own almost rhetorically. "Do you know what it's like to have your child taken from you?"

"Yes."

"No, you _don't,_ " said Regina forcefully, slicing the air with her hand. "You gave him up willingly."

Emma's temper snapped like a steel coil. "Why do you always say it like that? Like you're implying that I tossed him away because I couldn't be bothered raising him myself? You have _no idea_ what I went through in giving him up! I wanted to keep my baby so badly. I thought, 'Finally I have a family, someone who will never leave me and who will love me no matter what.'"

"Then why did you give him up," asked Regina blandly.

"Because I had nothing to give _him_! I didn't know what to do with a kid. You've seen Em, she can't even take care of herself ... can you imagine her taking care of a baby? I couldn't have given him any sort of life back then. I had no money, no job, nowhere to live, and nobody to help me. But when they came to take him away I almost changed my mind, thinking of all the horrible places I'd lived while I was in the system and I begged and pleaded that he would end up in a better situation..."

Emma smiled humourlessly. "He got you."

"That was no coincidence," said Regina darkly. "August must have brought him to Storybrooke and he came to me through Mr Gold. How he must've enjoyed imagining you turning up ten years later to reclaim your son from the heartless Evil Queen. Whatever you think of me, however much you doubt that I love my son, I gave him whatever love I could. But I suppose that's the point isn't it? Nobody believes that I _can_ love."

Emma shook her head pityingly. "You are not heartless, Regina. Your problem isn't that you can't love, it's that you feel things too deeply. To the extent that it makes you dangerous. You can't let go even when you should."

Regina's eyes flashed angrily. "Are you saying that I should cut my losses and give up? Let my son go _? Forget about him._ "

"No!" said Emma firmly. "I meant your vengeance. Your hatred for Mary Margaret and your grief over what happened to Daniel. It was too hard to hate your mother for it wasn't it? You're so blinded by your pain that you've misplaced the blame for what Cora did on to Snow. Even when it almost cost you the one thing you do love - you still can't let it go!"

"I'm trying!" cried Regina, finally showing some genuine regret. "But I can't forget it. I don't know why. I have to hold on to what I have. Everyone I love gets taken from me. I thought she only did it because she loved me, she always thought she knew what was best for me. But my mother never even-"

Regina inhaled sharply. "My mother never-"

"She-"

Regina burst into sobs and, unused to doing so with an audience, immediately threw her hands over her face. Emma fell to the floor on her knees and pulled her into her arms, meeting stubborn resistance from her but she didn't allow her to get away.

"Let me go!" Regina struggled in her arms. "You can't-"

"No, don't fight me," murmured Emma. "I know, I know. I've got you."

Emma let her to cry on her shoulder for a long time and for once, Regina let herself be held. She didn't have the strength to push her away again.

* * *

David drove down the road that led out of town and towards the interstate highway. He pulled over abruptly when he saw Leroy's truck parked alongside the road and the dwarves standing around next to it.

"Leroy!" called David, slamming the driver's door shut. "You sent me that strange text message? What've you brought me out here for? You shouldn't be driving if you've been drinking."

"I'm not drunk!" growled Leroy. "Wish I was."

David propped his hands on his hips. "Okay. What is it? Why am I here?"

"We were gonna do patrols of the town line," Leroy started, and four of the other dwarves nodded. "You know, to check and see if anyone was trying anything and then well... Doc, why don't you explain?"

Doc prickled with offense. "My name is not Doc. It is Francois Dupont. I received my doctorate for research into diamond chemical vapour deposition and materials science. It was groundbreaking work. Now I teach Chemistry at the High School."

"See!" Leroy pointed at Doc.

David winced regretfully. "Doc lost his memories. Why did he go over the town line?"

"He didn't!" "Not even!" "The town line?" "No!" "He did not go!" cried five dwarves in succession.

"What do you mean?"

"Look!" Leroy pointed past the group, indicating down the road for David to follow with his gaze.

The 'Leaving Storybrooke' sign was at least a hundred yards away where the orange spray paint marked the border. The dwarves were nowhere near the town line where they'd parked the truck. Doc must've been the first to head towards it when they'd arrived and somehow he'd lost his memories, just like Sneezy had when they'd investigated the line months ago. Now only five of the seven dwarves remembered their fairytale identities.

"The magic," said David grimly. "It's shrinking away from the town line. Get back, all of you. Don't approach the border again until we figure out what's going on."

* * *

After Regina stopped crying, she extricated herself from Emma's arms swiftly despite feeling the loss immediately. Instead of showing gratitude or even embarrassment all she did was swipe her cheeks matter-of-factly and resumed looking through the box. Emma knew it must've cost her to give in to that display of emotions in her presence so she decided to let Regina save a little face.

They'd had their chance to scream out their anger at each other and now perhaps the wounds would heal instead of continuing to fester.

They were sitting side-by-side on the bedroom floor now with their backs against the bed, absentmindedly going through the photographs and keepsakes that documented Henry's childhood. Regina had seen it first-hand of course and had looked at the photos many times since but it was the first time for Emma, seeing captured moments of her child's early life. Seeing what she'd missed was bittersweet.

Regina had never had anyone to share parenting Henry with before and it left her feeling conflicted. Half of her still wanted him all to herself... and the other half remembered the first time she'd looked at Emma and seen someone who was great with her son. Begrudgingly, she'd begun to see the blonde in an entirely different way. Not that she was willing to admit that to _her_. It'd been horrifying and irritating enough at the time when she realised it, but now it was ... attractive?

Emma had made her an offer last year. She'd wanted to spend more time with Henry … and her. It seemed impossible that she would still want that. Did she really think they could do this together? Why was that idea so enticing now. Was it merely the appeal of having someone to rely on for support, someone to share the highs and commiserate the lows ... or was it something else? The two of them couldn't agree on anything when it came to Henry - except perhaps that they both loved him. How could it possibly work?

Emma held up a small hexagonal box with a fairy on top of it. She heard it rattle when she shook it. "What's in this?"

"Henry's baby teeth."

"Ew! You kept his teeth?" cried Emma. "Really, Regina?"

Regina snatched the little hex away in annoyance and put it back in the box. She started looking through a pile of photographs and handing them to Emma one by one. Sometimes she would comment on them:

" _This one was taken at the Petting Zoo. He cried when it was time to go home..."_

" _Henry at the park. He's eighteen months here. Getting him to stop eating the sand was a challenge..."_

" _His first day of school. He was afraid the night before that the other kids wouldn't like him..."_

" _This was his seventh birthday. He wanted to make cupcakes all by himself. But he put the whole eggs in, even the shells..."_

Emma stared at one she'd held in her hand for a while. "There's not many photos of both of you."

Regina gave a tiny shrug. "No-one to take them. I had Graham take some, like the one you're holding, but he wasn't around Henry much. I didn't want him to step in as Henry's father just because he was there."

"I like this one." Emma held up the photo, showing Regina holding baby Henry in the nursery. "You haven't aged a day."

Regina refused to dignify the smartass comment by responding to it. "He's eight weeks old there. Must've been taken during the five minutes he stopped crying."

"Was it hard? Taking care of him by yourself?"

"Yes and no. It was easy when he was a baby, it got harder when he was older actually. When he started to hate me. I didn't know why he began to withdraw from me at the time. But children are not easily fooled, he must've seen into my heart and known who I was. When he got the book he made the connection between me and the Evil Queen easily."

"He doesn't hate you, Regina. He loves you, you're his Mom."

Regina tensed uneasily, remembering the last time Emma had said that to her- and what it'd led to. "Perhaps. I think a part of him will always hate me though."

"Maybe we all hate our parents a little. We think they're perfect and when we find out they're not we hate them for it."

* * *

"Miss Blanchard, may I have a word?" requested the Blue Fairy.

Mary Margaret scanned her eyes over the classroom, gauging the chaos with a practiced eye. A classroom of children was like an army that could rise up with little warning if you weren't paying attention. The students were busily working on art projects and Ri and Em were going around helping with paints and glitter. Well, to be fair, Ri was helping the children and simultaneously trying to prevent Em from making a bigger mess than they already were.

Outside in the hall, Mary Margaret left the door cracked so she could still hear the class.

"Is something wrong, Blue?"

"Princess, I must warn you. You cannot allow this to go on any longer," said the Blue Fairy seriously.

"What do you mean?"

"You must keep those girls apart."

Mary Margaret's mouth parted curiously. "Em and Ri?"

"Yes."

"They're just kids."

"You know who she grows up to be. You know better than anyone of the evil deeds she will one day perform. We have a chance to stop it happening. To prevent all of it."

"Are you serious?" hissed Mary Margaret. "You want me to help you convince Ri not to cast the curse?"

"Yes."

"We have no idea what effect that could have! If Regina never cast the curse none of us would even be here, Storybrooke wouldn't exist."

"Precisely. This is our way of getting home - where we belong."

"What about my daughter?" said Mary Margaret coldly. "And her son. They grew up in this world."

The Blue Fairy steadied her gaze. "This is a war and sacrifices have to be made."

"Are you saying-!" Mary Margaret yelled, before dropping her voice lower. "Are you saying I should sacrifice my family - their happiness?"

"You were born a Royal. There is the price for having power over others. Sometimes you must make difficult choices for the good of all."

"No," said Mary Margaret firmly. "Find another way."

"I think young Henry already has," said The Blue Fairy. Her smile spoke of amusement but her tone was ominous.

"What are you talking about. What does Henry have to do with it?"

The nun replied somewhat evasively. "He came to me asking for help."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because now that magic is back and there's a supply of fairydust I can fulfill wishes."

Mary Margaret suddenly wondered why she that hadn't occurred to her before. "What did Henry wish for?"

"It matters not. I refused to grant it."

The Blue Fairy turned on her heel and walked away down the hall, leaving Mary Margaret pondering over what had been revealed.

Whatever strange things were happening in Storybrooke lately were all connected to Henry somehow. It had to be connected to Em and Ri appearing in Storybrooke as well. But why would Henry wish for that?

What was it that Em had said? " _After the first lie don't trust anything that comes after that"_... Mary Margaret wished for Em's ability to detect a lie right now. She wasn't sure if the Blue Fairy was telling her the truth. Blue had lied to her once before... when the curse was coming she'd told her that there was room for only one passenger in the magic wardrobe portal. If not for that lie, the Snow White would've traveled to this world together with baby Emma and then her daughter wouldn't have had to grow up alone.

Had the Blue Fairy really not granted Henry's wish?

"He must've found another way," Mary Margaret murmured, looking through the glass of the classroom window to see Henry and Em throwing glitter at each other.

* * *

"I was waiting for you, Emma."

Regina's face was still sticky from her earlier tears and her voice was husky from overuse as she told Emma everything. Perhaps it was time to extend a little trust in return for earning some. Or at least after this she could rest knowing that _someone_ had heard her side of the story, even if it did pale in comparison to the common knowledge of what she'd done as the Evil Queen. Emma might never understand it fully but maybe she'd see her differently now.

Regina went on. "When I got to Storybrooke, after a while I realised I didn't win at all. Everyone else was living like a zombie except me. What is the point of victory if no-one knows it? I wasn't happy. Nothing was real, but at least I didn't have to be _her_ any more. I had no-one to talk to for nearly twenty years, until Henry said his first word. It was 'Mama'."

Regina handed Emma a photo of a toddler Henry just after he'd dumped a bowl of cereal over his head. Emma smiled at it fondly, though still hanging on Regina's every word.

"But as he got older he stopped talking to me too. I didn't even know he'd found out he was adopted until you showed up. I knew you had escaped and I expected your return for 28 years, as the prophecy foretold. I was waiting for you to come and free me from the curse."

"You did want the curse broken," said Emma in awe.

Regina shrugged lightly. "I was going to kill you afterwards."

"Right," Emma snorted.

"But when I saw you... I knew it was over. I knew you were her daughter. But you were Henry's mother too. You know, sometimes you look just like him when he's mad at me. Mr Gold was wrong when he told me Henry has his eyes ... he has yours. You fought with me tooth and nail over everything, like you weren't even afraid of me."

Emma laughed at that picture of herself. "Of course I'm afraid of you, Regina! You're dangerous as hell. Sometimes I feel like I'm carrying you across a river and you're gonna sting me and sink us both."

"I'd hardly sink myself, dear."

"But if you wanted the curse broken why did you try to stop me?"

"To stop you from finding out the truth of who I was. To stop Henry from finding out. I had to fight you. I didn't want you both to look at me the way you do now. I knew the first day we met that Henry would never be mine while ever you still lived."

"What do you want, Regina?" asked Emma, knowing the answer already.

"My son. I want him back."

"We can share him?" offered Emma. "I'll have the left half and you can have the right."

"Emma," said Regina sharply.

"Oh. You wanna chop him the other way? You can have the top half then, it talks too much."

Regina pushed the obnoxious blonde in the shoulder and shoved her off balance. "Stop it! That's my child you're talking about."

"I know," Emma said, happily riling her up while trying to fend off the attack. "He's kinda cute isn't he? We should totally keep him. I think I could die for him. Or kill."

"I could kill _you_ right now."

"You won't."

"Don't tempt me."

Emma was trying not to smile too much. "Thanks for showing me Henry's things."

"You're welcome," Regina said stiffly. "For what it's worth I am … sorry for ruining your life, Emma. Even if we did get Henry out of all this."

"Yeah, he was worth it though. And hey, the kid could've done way worse than you and me! I'd do it all over again if we had the choice ... otherwise he wouldn't even be the same person. You should've seen the look he gave me last night - it was all you. I thought he was gonna call me 'Miss Swan' and demand that I give him some paperwork."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? I suppose in a way he has inherited traits from both of us."

"Yeah. Sorry he's such a brat," teased Emma lightly, knowing it would ruffle Regina's maternal feathers. "Guess that's my fault."

"Genetics is a powerful force," said Regina dryly.

"So is love," said Emma, unable to stop a smile tugging at her lips this time. She couldn't quite meet Regina's eyes after she'd said it and so she missed seeing a slight smile directed at her.


	16. Mini-me

" _One way or another I'm gonna find ya I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha..."_

Emma jabbed at her phone screen to answer the incoming call. "David, what is it? I left work early-"

"Where are you?" her father's voice said over the phone.

"I'm with Regina, at her place."

"Good. We need one or both of you to come here and discipline Henry..."

Emma and Regina appeared outside the front door of Mary Margaret's apartment in a swirl of purple smoke. Once the smoke disappeared, Emma arched her eyebrow at the provider of her magical transportation.

"Why didn't you just land us inside?"

"Because that would be rude," answered Regina matter-of-factly.

Once they were _inside_ the apartment David and Mary Margaret noticed their arrival with immediate relief. They were standing on either side of Henry like they were interrogating him. He sat at the dining table with his face grumpily propped up on his fists. His whole body projected 'I'm in trouble'.

"Oookay, kid," said Emma, amused at the expression on his face. "What've ya done?"

"Nothing," said Henry indignantly.

"You're lying."

"Ugh, I hate your superpower!"

"Yep, I suck. Now, tell me what's going on."

"No."

"Ok. Then I'll sic your Mom onto you. I bet she and I could do a pretty decent Good cop/Bad cop routine and get you to behave. Don't forget that she used to be the Evil Queen..." Emma hinted with as straight a face as she could manage.

Regina curled her lip, but there was less disdain in it than usual. "Thanks for that, dear. You're assuming he'll do what I say."

Henry raised his chin defiantly. "Mom's idea of grounding me is sending me to my room, where all my comics are. I like reading."

Emma groaned. "Mary Margaret, David, tell us what is going on?"

Mary Margaret explained to them about the Blue Fairy's visit and how she had let slip that Henry had come to see her to request a wish. Even though they were told that Henry had not been granted his wish, she and David suspected that he'd found another way to get what he wanted.

"Uh huh," drawled Emma, getting the picture. "Someone told you 'no' so you found a way to get around them. It's like you're Em version 2.0."

"Henry, what was your wish?" said Regina.

Henry twisted his mouth sideways and kicked the chair legs under the table.

Mary Margaret answered instead. "He wished that you and Emma would be together."

"No, I didn't!" denied Henry, without realising he'd walked straight into the trap. "I wished that Mom and Emma could have some time to understand each other."

"We could have _time_ to understand each other?" repeated Emma, cringing. "So this wish of yours somehow resulted in our teenage selves appearing in Storybrooke to help us understand each other's pasts?"

David shook his head. "No. The Blue Fairy said she didn't grant his wish."

"She can't," said Regina bitterly. "After my father lost his title, our patron was reassigned and all wishes were forfeited henceforth. No-one of the Mills family can be granted one anymore."

"So you never made a wish?" asked Emma.

Regina's expression soured. "I was never _granted_ a wish. Now my son has been refused also."

Mary Margaret shook her head slowly. "Blue was not pleased that young Regina is here from the past but now she's working it to her advantage."

"What do you mean?" said Regina.

"She wants us to prevent Ri from casting the curse, to try to convince her not to."

David sighed. "We think that's why Storybrooke is shrinking."

Emma's jaw dropped and she felt a sense of dread without knowing why. "Uhh, I don't know what the hell you mean by that ... but it does not sound good."

David told them about getting the call from Leroy to meet the dwarves out near the town line. "When I got there, Leroy told me that Doc had lost his memory but they weren't even that close to the town line."

"Where were they?" said Emma.

"On the road out of town, about a hundred yards from the 'Leaving Storybrooke' sign."

"So the magical border is shrinking?" said Emma, horrified.

"Is it shrinking uniformly?" asked Regina. "By a hundred yards everywhere along the border?"

"We don't know! We _can't_ know!" said Mary Margaret anxiously speaking in a rush. "Obviously we can't see the point where the magic stops and memories are lost. If it shrinks even further we won't even know until it hits more people. It's at the outskirts now but what happens if it gets all the way to the populated areas?"

"This is a disaster," said Emma seriously. "If the magic border shrinks completely, everyone will lose their memories and go back to their cursed selves - permanently."

"Except you, me, and Henry," Regina pointed out.

"Yes, and that would serve _you_ well, wouldn't it Regina?" said David. "With nobody remembering you were the Evil Queen it'd be just like going back to before the curse was broken. You'd get to start over."

Regina's derision at that idea was evident. "Except that I'd lose my magic and the two most important people would still know the truth, my son and -"

"Emma," supplied Henry.

"What if we work on a way to bring back the lost memories?" suggested Mary Margaret.

"Yeah," said Emma brightly. "Mr Gold invented some potion to go over the town line when we went to New York. Maybe we can use the same thing. Or maybe we can find a way to get Belle's and Doc's memories back somehow."

"Then even if the border does shrink we can give the potion to everyone and recover the lost memories," said David enthusiastically.

Regina glared disapprovingly at how they continued to run away with their stupid idea, confident that everything would fall neatly into place. They really were irritating, the whole lot of them. Obviously it was a family trait.

"You got a cauldron, Regina?" teased Emma slyly. "Can you whip us up some hocus pocus?"

"A chemistry kit would be more appropriate," said Mary Margaret in the same tone.

"There isn't a magical cure for tragic events just because you want there to be!" said Regina, losing patience with them.

"There has to be something we can do, Regina," said Mary Margaret gently.

"Why?" Regina said mockingly. "Why does there _have_ to be something that solves all our problems?"

"There will be," said Henry confidently.

"Sweetheart-"

Henry grabbed his mother's arm earnestly. "Mom! Believe me, this is what you don't know cos you've always been on the losing side-"

"Thanks, Henry," said Regina wryly.

"This is what Good knows that Evil doesn't! There is always a way, it's just hard to see it at first. No matter what happens the heroes always win. You're on our side now."

Emma gave the former Mayor a shit-eating grin. "The kid's right, Regina. Welcome to Team Awesome, where we bungle around until we figure it out."

Henry grinned happily. "Emma's the Saviour. She broke your curse, she can do this too."

"Er... yeah. I got this," Emma said shiftily.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Well, _now_ I feel reassured."

David brought the conversation back to the problem at hand. "Is there a way to know where the border is right now?"

Regina inhaled slowly as she considered it. "I could go to find the border and use magic to identify it visibly so that we can track it's progress. Hopefully it's shrinking slowly enough that we'll have time to stop it or even reverse it."

Emma looked at her sharply. "You can't go there!"

"Why?"

"You don't have a cursed self. You can't risk losing your fairytale identity - it's your _only_ identity. And if you go too far past the border you'll lose your magic won't you?"

"Most likely."

"Forever?" said Henry. "Or just until you come back, like Mr Gold?"

"I don't know," admitted Regina. "I've never tried to leave town. I've never crossed the border, even before I had my powers back."

"Why is this even happening?" Emma blurted out. "What the hell does it mean?"

"The girls. It's gotta be Ri," said David.

Regina nodded. "She's starting to doubt whether she should cast the curse."

"Wait," Mary Margaret held up her hands in alarm. "What happens to Em and Ri if the border shrinks all the way?"

* * *

After they'd spent the afternoon with Mary Margaret's class at school, Em and Ri went to the movies. Getting permission from Mary Margaret had been a cinch for Em since all she had to do was pout and plead and look pathetic. There was only one movie theatre in town and for some reason it was playing only films released in 1983. Em grabbed Ri's hand and concealed them both so they could sneak into a showing of Return of the Jedi.

On the screen, Princess Leia asked, " _But, why must you confront him?"_

" _Because, there is good in him," said Luke. "I've felt it. He won't turn me over to the Emperor. I can save him. I can turn him back to the good side. I have to try."_

Em had seen the movie several times and she took it upon herself to give Ri the full Star Wars education, complete with quoting the whole movie in time with the dialogue. She especially liked Vader's voice and making the kkkcchhhh noise. The whole thing was rather confusing for Ri, the worlds and ideas on the screen were so foreign to her... and yet there was something about it that resonated with another story she'd read.

Em dug her hand into the popcorn bucket and came up with nothing but Ri's hand.

"I think we've run out of the popped corn, Em," said Ri.

Em grinned and produced another bucket that was hidden on her other side. "Ta-da! Em's popcorn never runs out."

"This world has strange food," said Ri, with a fond smile. "You're starting to fill out a little, Em, and you look much healthier, compared to when I first met you."

"You saying I'm getting fat, hey? Oh no, watch this part! Yoda's about to die," whined Em, eyes glued to the screen.

Yoda's unique voice and grammatical constructions filled the near-empty theatre. " _Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny..."_

"Do think that's true, Em?" asked Ri quietly, turning away from where the poor little green creature was dying.

"Huh?"

"Do you think Regina can't be saved? That she can't be good again one day?"

Em turned to Ri to stroke her cheek with the back of her fingers. "Is this still bothering you? It may be your future, Ri, but it's Regina's present. It's up to her now. Try not to worry until it's your time."

"But maybe I can help her see. Maybe I can help her remember me. Emma told me there was a chance to help her change but she missed it. Maybe I can get Regina to let her try again."

Em sniffed in annoyance. "Emma let her down? Big surprise."

Ri shook her head. "No, Em, it wasn't like that. I think Emma offered herself to Regina but she pushed her away."

"Really?" Em peered at her curiously. "But Ri, you're her, can you think of why she would do that?"

"Yes," admitted Ri. "I'd push you away if I - " she stopped herself going further.

"It's ok. You don't have to say."

But even though Em told her not to worry, Ri still couldn't stop thinking about Regina's past - her future. She didn't know why but when she felt things she could never seem to let go. It seemed her heart could never forget. Today, that lady in blue had again reminded her of all the horrible things she'd read in that book of Henry's, the things that she would do to people one day and the curse that would tear a gaping hole in her heart.

She knew it wasn't her yet, but it _was_ her. She was Regina already.

Em turned her attention back to the movie for a few minutes but she was surprised when Ri's lips suddenly pressed to hers. It felt different somehow and it wasn't just the delicious sting of salt. Ri was acting more confident but it seemed like she was feeling less so. It was dim in the movie theatre but when Em broke the kiss she could still see the darkening of Ri's eyes as though they begged her.

"Em? Take me away. I want to forget."

Em grinned happily in surprise. "Anything you wish, princess. Let's get out of here!"

Em and Ri left the movie theatre hand-in-hand and headed to a place that Em had remembered seeing a few blocks down main street. Even though it was growing late, the front lights of the building were still on and the Welcome sign was still lit. Em knocked on the door.

While they waited, Em hung her arm around Ri's neck and pecked a kiss on her cheek.

The door opened, revealing a tall brunette dressed scantily in clubbing clothes and smelling of cigarette smoke.

"Baby Emma," said Ruby curiously. "And...?"

Em placed a kiss on Ri's temple. "My girlfriend Ri."

Ruby nodded with a knowing smile. "Bet you guys aren't supposed to be out this late huh."

"Not really, but Em will take care of me," said Ri.

Ruby was fascinated by this younger version of Regina Mills, this trusting girl who was apparently smitten with Baby Emma. She would definitely be asking older Emma all about this later, she had a feeling the Sheriff was holding out on her about the Mayor. Those two were so obviously hot for each other. In the meantime, enabling this pair's shenanigans seemed like the thing to do.

"What can I do for you?" offered Ruby.

Em bared her teeth in a grin and winked. "I'd like a room."

* * *

"What happens if Ri goes back to the past and decides not to cast the curse?" said David. "Storybrooke shrinks and disappears? Are we all just going to appear back in the Enchanted Forest? Or stay here without magic and without our real memories?"

"If our memories changed we wouldn't even know it had happened," said Mary Margaret.

"Me and Regina would remember how it was the first time around," said Emma. "Like with the clocktower."

"What clocktower?" said David blankly.

Henry sighed impatiently. "The one you don't remember."

"We just went over this," said Emma in the same impatient tone as the boy. "It was there and now it's not."

"But what happens to Henry? If you never came to this world, Emma, you might not have met Neal and then -" Mary Margaret broke off abruptly before saying anything that might scare Henry ... like that he could be the next thing to disappear on them.

"That can't happen," said Henry, following her logic anyway.

"Why not, kid," said Emma grimly.

Henry twisted his mouth and shrugged. "Because. I have to be born cos I'm already here. Ri has to cast the curse because Mom already has. It's like in my space-time assignment ... events are their own causes. You can't change the past because it's already happened. The only thing that changes is your perception of it."

"But things _are_ changing here, Henry. It's not stable like you're saying," said Regina gently. "If it was then we wouldn't have been able to change the past at all. If the timeline is stable then anything we changed in the past must have been part of the present timeline all along."

Emma squinted. "So... Em and Ri are here from the past but they have to go back for us to be here at all? Then why don't we remember any of this?"

"It depends on whether we're living by Terminator rules or Back to the Future rules," said Henry.

David laughed. "What?"

Henry shrugged again as if it should've been obvious. "Well, in Terminator they went back to change stuff in the past but it was stuff they'd already changed, so the future was the same … in Back to the Future when they went back to change stuff in the past the timeline got overwritten and the future changed."

"Okaaay, how did you do this, kid?" asked Emma suspiciously. "You may not have made your wish but you sure as hell got it to happen somehow. You know too much. And you watch too many movies. Did you have something to do with this?"

Henry didn't answer. Emma was listening too carefully.

"Have you accidentally invented time travel or something?"

"Nope," said Henry straight-faced. "That's probably not what's going on. It's because space and time are the same thing."

"Huh?" said Emma blankly.

"Okay. If you're not moving, you're still moving through time at a constant rate. If you _are_ moving you're moving through space _and_ time ... but if you're moving through space fast enough, like speed-of-light fast, you can move faster through time as well."

David groaned, rubbing his forehead. "Henry..."

"It means you can go forward in time but not back."

"So Em and Ri are stuck here?" cried Mary Margaret. "They can't go back?"

"No," said Henry simply. "They have to go back cos otherwise Emma and Mom wouldn't have grown up to be here now."

"Oh my god, kid, which is it!" said Emma, frustrated by the apparent paradox. "Can they go back or not?"

"Well, I'm not sure," admitted Henry. "Em and Ri are here from different worlds and different times."

"Just before a major event happened for each of them," said Regina uncomfortably.

"They both had their heart broken," murmured Emma in agreement.

Henry nodded. "Yeah, and if there are two events separated by enough time they can be related by cause-and-effect. But if there's enough space between them there's not enough time and so they don't occur in each other's future _or_ past."

Emma gave him a side glance. "Enough space? Are you saying that me and Regina are from different universes? Cos I could've told you that. Her universe is crazy."

Regina gave Emma a face that threatened like stormclouds.

"Nuh uh," said Henry confidently. "I'm saying that future events can affect past ones. So because I was born, Mom had to cast the curse and you got pregnant, Emma."

"Wait a sec, Henry," said Mary Margaret. "Haven't you got that the wrong way around? Shouldn't it be that you were born _because_ the curse had already happened and Emma had already gotten herself pregnant?"

"Nope. The past, the present, and the future are all the same. Mom and Emma did it so I could be born. The curse had to happen for me."

Emma snorted. "So what you're saying, kid, is that all of this is about you. That you're the center of everything that happens? You are such a mini-Regina, I can't believe it. That's actually hilari- AAARGH!"

Emma rubbed her shoulder where she'd been punched. "What was that for?"

"You know why," snapped Regina.

Emma grumbled under breath.

"Okay," said Mary Margaret. "So we still don't know how Em and Ri got here or how to get them back or why they're here in the first place."

"Even after Henry twisted our minds into pretzels trying to explain it," said David ruefully.

"Yeah, kid, thanks for nothing," said Emma in mock annoyance. "You little nerd. Who's been teaching you these crap physics theories? They don't make sense!"

Henry shrugged. "The internet."

"Oh. Then they must be correct," Emma grumbled sarcastically. "Those stupid theories all contradict one another! Are you _sure_ you haven't got some of the details wrong, kid?"

"This time travel stuff is really confusing," said David with an apologetic smile.

"Yep, don't try to think about it too much," said Henry, secretly enjoying the adults' confusion. "Time stuff is - was - or will be - confusing enough to talk about, especially when Em and Ri get back."

"Where are they anyways?" said Emma.

"They went to the movies after school," said Mary Margaret.

Regina shook her head slightly. "Shouldn't they be back by now? It's getting late."

Emma frowned as she accessed her magic sense. "I know where they are."


	17. Too much

 

 

In the hideously floral guest room at Granny's Bed and Breakfast Em sat backwards on the bed, giving Ri a beckoning look. She pulled her by the hand, stretching their arms between them and took her glasses off with one hand.

"Em, maybe we shouldn't have run away..." said Ri.

"Aren't you sick of being good all the time, Ri? It's no fun," said Em with a laugh.

Ri smiled uncertainly. "It isn't, is it."

Ri sat next to Em on the edge of the bed and they were so close their thighs were touching. So close they could see the detail of each other's eyes and feel the breath on their skin when the other spoke. Em's heart was pounding as she leaned in to give Ri a soft kiss.

"I love it when you kiss me." Ri blushed.

"How about when I touch you?" Em whispered against her lips. She trailed a hand down the delicate skin of her cheek.

"Y-yes."

Em revealed as if from nowhere a glass bottle with red writing on it and held it up to Ri's mouth. "Here. Drink this. It'll make the butterflies go away."

"Do I want that?"

They both had a hand on the bottle as Ri tipped it up to her lips to take a mouthful of the clear liquid. She swallowed with a wince and coughed roughly.

"Ugh! Em, what is it? It tastes awful."

"It'll taste better in a minute," said Em, holding it up for Ri to drink again.

Em took long swigs of the bottle herself, feeling the heat of the vodka burn her throat all the way down. It only took minutes for her to feel the buzz since she didn't weigh much and was unused to drinking. She reached down to put the bottle on the floor beside the bed and when she straightened she saw Ri's darkened eyes watching her.

"Do you want to feel good?" murmured Em.

Instead of answering Ri grabbed Em's face in both hands and quickly brought their lips together for a kiss. Em took control and opened her mouth, pressing Ri to do the same and the kiss rapidly went from fairly innocent to searing hot. They could taste the alcohol on each other and it was heady and intoxicating.

After a while, Em broke first with a gasp and began to kiss her way sloppily down Ri's neck and collarbones. Ri shivered and a wave of something started low in her hips and rolled up through her spine to her neck where Em was massaging and threading her hands through her long hair.

Em groaned. "I want to feel your hands on me."

"Em," Ri panted. "Show me what to do."

Em sat on the bed on her feet with her knees slightly splayed and had Ri sit in front of her. She unbuttoned her jeans and took Ri's hand and showed her how to touch her. The first touch sent desire racing through her veins and she let out a whimper when Ri kept it up by herself. Em kissed Ri again and unbuttoned her blouse, letting it slip half-off her shoulders before running her hands over the bare skin there.

"Is this right, Em," said Ri, watching her face carefully.

Em gasped. "Yes, yes. Don't stop, please."

Ri felt hot just from watching Em's reactions and hearing her murmur words over and over. She remembered back to the last time they'd kissed this way and snaked her hand up Em's shirt to palm her gently. She tried switching the rhythm of her other hand a little and the effect on Em was immediate.

"Oh! Yes, like that," slurred Em, closing her eyes and arching into it. "That's so good, Ri."

Ri smiled and felt Em wrap her arms around her so she could bury her face in her neck. She could feel Em's breath hot against her skin.

"Ri," gasped Em. "Can I touch you? Want you to feel it too."

Ri started placing kisses again on Em's lips and moved up to straddle Em's thighs. Em pushed the shirt fully off Ri's shoulders and slipped her arms free of the sleeves, letting the blouse fall anywhere. She ran her hands down the soft skin of Ri's back and then moved in the opposite direction from the bare skin above the girl's knees and pushed the skirt up as she went.

Em managed to break through the alcohol-soaked fog of sensations with a question in her eyes. "Ri, are you sure?"

But Ri's only answer was to kiss her deeply again. Em grabbed her by the hips and pulled her to meet her own, encouraging her to move against her as she lowered them to the bed. The blonde shifted her thigh between Ri's legs and was thrilled by the sounds she elicited, something like a gasp of pleasure and a sighed moan.

The door to the guest room slammed open with a bang, causing the girls to jump in fright. Emma, Regina, and Mary Margaret followed by Ruby burst into the room shocked by what they saw. But they were not as shocked as the teens were at being caught.

"Em!" "Ri!"

Ri's eyes went wide and she yelped when Em sat up, causing her to fall backward onto the bed. Em held her hands up in an innocent 'I didn't do it' gesture which nobody bought for a second.

"What the hell is going on here?!" said Emma angrily.

"Uh if you hafta ask that-" started Em, ever the smartass.

"I'm sorry!" blurted Ri, pressing her hands to her lips worriedly.

Emma let out a rough breath of frustration and placed her hands on her hips. She glared at the two girls on the bed, one with jeans half-off and one without a shirt on. She could smell the alcohol and sweat in the air and from the glazed look in Em's eyes it was extremely obvious to her what'd happened so far.

"Argh! I swear this is like herding cats! If it's not one or the other of you running away, it's both. Every time I turn my back you've disappeared, or stolen something, or snuck off to have sex! No wonder nobody trusts teenagers, you're IDIOTS."

Emma scrubbed her hands over her face and then peered at Regina. "If Henry gives us half this much trouble in a few years I'm gonna lose my mind."

Mary Margaret gasped in dismay, noticing what was on the floor. She picked up the half-empty bottle of vodka and looked at Ruby disapprovingly.

"You gave them alcohol?!" said Mary Margaret to her friend.

Ruby denied it defensively. "No. That is mine but I swear I didn't give it to them."

"But you gave them a room. What'd you think they were gonna get up to?" said Emma, annoyed.

Ruby sighed sympathetically. "Hey, I just - come on, don't you guys remember what it was like to be a teenager? No-one lets you do anything. I'm still not allowed to do anything."

"Perhaps there's a reason for that," pointed out Mary Margaret.

Ruby shrugged. "I took a shine to Baby Emma. She's alright. I just wanted them to have a little time to themselves. Y'know, I'm like the cool aunt or whatever."

"Ha," said Em with a sodden smirk. "Cool? You are hot."

Ri's face fell a little but nobody noticed except Regina who went over to drape the discarded blouse back over her teenage self's shoulders.

"Em, you are so incredibly in trouble right now," said Emma deadly serious, pointing at her younger self who was still trying to pull off an innocent face.

"Me?! Why you do you always assume everything is my fault? How do you know it wasn't Ri-"

"Knock it off. This has you written all over it."

Em raised her chin stubbornly. "Ri's idea. She started it."

Ri gaped incredulously. "Em, why would you say that!"

Emma narrowed her eyes and turned at Ri next, who cowered under the tone. "Oh, don't worry. You are in trouble too. You let everyone walk all over you. Stop letting Em talk you into things!"

Em butted in indignantly. "Hey-"

"You shut up," Emma rounded on her.

"I didn't talk her into it!" cried Em.

"I can smell the alcohol on her, Em!" said Emma angrily. "Were you trying to get her drunk enough to have sex? What is the matter with you! You can't just take whatever you want. How could you do that to her?"

"I would NEVER hurt her like that," insisted Em, tears pricking her eyes. "I love her!"

The air in the room slammed still like time had suddenly stopped. Every single one of them was stunned into silence by Em's accidental confession. This was extremely bad, what they'd been afraid of was already happening. The girls were falling in love with each other instead of their historical first loves. This changed everything for them and possibly everyone else.

Was their relationship causing changes in the future timeline and threatening the existence of Storybrooke - and Henry?

Ri looked dismayed so Em snuck a glance at the older Regina to see her reaction, but her expression was unreadable. The blonde teen knew how this must look, everyone knew it was her that was the troublemaker - and now, she was a callous heartbreaker as well. This would certainly cost her her only ally among the adults not to mention the girl she loved.

Ri was the first to break the silence for once, though her voice trembled. "Em. I think if you cared about how I feel you wouldn't have gotten me in trouble."

Em's stomach upended itself in sickening dread. "No. No. I never meant to-!"

When she reached out for her, Ri shrank away and held her unbuttoned blouse together with one hand. She felt self-conscious under the stares of the adults. She stood up next to Regina and kept her eyes on the floor.

The young brunette gulped in panic, murmuring to herself. "What've I done? If anyone finds out I'll be ruined."

"Please, Ri," said Em, trying not to cry. "I didn't mean to say it like that but I did mean it."

Ri's lower lip quivered and she closed her eyes. "I didn't know it could hurt this much. Please, I need to be away from here."

Regina heard the unspoken request behind the plea. She placed her palms on her younger self's shoulders and the two of them disappeared into a mist.

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment, the next morning_

"Ri certainly picked a hell of a time to finally stand up for herself," said Emma, despondently eying her hot chocolate which was rapidly cooling. "What a mess."

Emma and Mary Margaret glanced in the direction of the open bedroom where Em was still lying on the bed on her side, she wasn't asleep but she had her eyes closed. The teen was hugging the skyblue riding jacket that Ri had been wearing when she'd first arrived in Storybrooke. They'd never seen Em so quiet and subdued - normally she could fill a room with her wacky charm and boisterous energy.

"I feel bad for them both," said Mary Margaret softly. "Maybe we shouldn't have tried to keep them apart. All we've done is made things worse."

"Em brought this on herself."

"Emma," sighed Mary Margaret. "She made a mistake. I don't think she meant to hurt Ri."

"I know. But Ri isn't from this world, she's a frightened young girl who doesn't understand what's happening half the time. If I have to protect her from myself I will. Em has to learn that just because she can take something doesn't mean she should," insisted Emma with a frown.

"Is that what you had to learn? Because your magic lets you get away with things easily?"

Emma nodded slowly. "Yeah. That's why Em's so uncontrollable and impulsive. She's not consciously accessing her magic, things just happen to her and around her. The world bends itself to her will. Eventually I learned to calm down and figured out how to control myself, but it wasn't easy. Especially because I didn't know why."

"You realised after the curse was broken?"

"Sorta. I didn't want to believe it was real. I only realised I could consciously use magic when I helped Regina open the portal for the wraith and again when I used magic against Cora in Fairytale Land. Gold said it was because I'm the product of True Love."

"What about when ... you said there was a time you couldn't get yourself out?"

"When I went to prison and I was pregnant with Henry. I couldn't get out, for some reason I couldn't access my magic or maybe it was that I didn't want to. I'm not sure which, maybe both. I had nowhere to go anyway."

Mary Margaret gave her a searching look. "Where do you think they went? Regina and Ri."

Emma sighed. "They're at home. I hope she's ok. Apart from the fact that Ri's had her heart broken for the first time that is."

"Regina certainly knows what that's like. Who better to help her through it?"

* * *

_108 Mifflin St_

"Why does it hurt so much," Ri gasped.

"I don't know," said Regina softly.

She knew exactly what Ri felt and reached under the covers to place a hand on the girl's back. She'd given Ri the guest bedroom but as soon as she'd gone to bed the night before, Ri had come in and crawled into bed beside her. The teen had tried to be quiet but she'd ended up crying herself to sleep in Regina's arms and slept fitfully until morning.

Ri was sobbing. "It - it - hurts and it won't stop, it's not going away."

Regina swept Ri's long hair away from her face and laid it behind on the pillow. "I never realised other people didn't feel it that much. I feel everything strongly. I don't know why. Perhaps because Mother removed her own heart a long time ago, before I was even born."

"C-can you take out my heart? It's too much. I don't want to feel like this forever."

"I know why you're asking but you don't want that. You haven't yet seen the effect that it had on Mother. Don't ever give up your heart - not for anything. It's the only thing you truly have."

Ri started to cry again. "B-but it's full of her!"

"Em didn't mean to hurt you. Sometimes she doesn't think before she speaks or acts. She's like Emma, but at her age she has an even less developed prefrontal cortex - that's the part of your mind that is responsible for impulse control and understanding other people. She doesn't know the world you come from. She may not realise why you were hurt."

"She tried to say it was my fault that we got in trouble! I can't determine whether I did something wrong. If this happened at home and other people found out, I'd lose my reputation for certain. Such girls never get married and are shamed and scorned for life. I'd lose everything. Everyone was going to blame me and then they'd hate me like they hate you."

"They don't hate you. Your fear makes you overly cautious."

"But Emma was really mad! It must have been wrong."

"No," said Regina softly. "Emma has a slight hero-complex. She was only worried for you because she knows herself. She was afraid that Em would push you before you were ready."

"Em wouldn't do that. She said she loves me! I love her too and I wanted to be with her. But how can she care about me when she knows what I did to her - to everyone?"

"I'm not sure, but I know Emma cares about me too," Regina admitted.

Ri swiped at her wet cheeks, her chest was still wracking with little gulps from crying so much. She knew what Regina was saying was true, she had asked Em to take her away and all she'd done was grant her wish. But when they were together it had felt so overwhelming and Em had been flippant at exactly the wrong time.

Em said she loved her and the thought of it made Ri's heart fill to overflowing. It was scary though, because she wasn't brought up that way. She'd been raised and groomed for a different life. She'd dreamed of love without ever expecting it to happen to her and now that it had she wasn't sure that she could live without it again.

Mother would be furious if she knew. Ri would get in so much trouble over this and she was afraid of what the consequences would be for her disobedience. What would Mother do to Em? Probably anything to keep them as far apart as possible.

"Mother's not here," reminded Regina softly, apparently knowing just what she was thinking.

* * *

Mary Margaret looked at her daughter with concern. "Emma, you know how Em feels don't you?"

"She thinks she's alone now that she's lost them both," explained Emma.

"Maybe she thinks Ri doesn't return her feelings? Can you talk to her?"

"She doesn't want to hear from me."

Mary Margaret pleaded with her whole face. "Emma, you must know what it's like to have your heart broken... you must know what she's going through."

"I do know what it's like to have my heart broken. I even know what it's like to be rejected by Regina," Emma confessed quietly.

"What happened between you two?" blurted Mary Margaret.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Um -"

"Because you are curious? Or because you want to know me better."

"Emma," entreated Mary Margaret gently. "Of course I want to know you. I want to know anything you want to tell me."

"Are you sure," said Emma, listening carefully and testing her out. "Even if I tell you how I feel about Regina?"

Mary Margaret suspected this was a 'cookie' question and any hint of a lie would cause Emma to clam up and shut her out. They'd been friends and talked freely last year before finding out they were mother and daughter, but ever since the curse broke their relationship had become strained. Emma must be afraid now of being found out to be Not The Ideal Daughter and she obviously felt that she had a reason to expect rejection - like an attraction to her parents' arch enemy for instance? Mary Margaret considered the weight of her response before answering, but her tone was certain when she did.

"Yes. I want to help my daughter - both of you. I can see you need to talk."

"I kissed her."

Mary Margaret peered at her searchingly. "When? Is that why she left the other night? Did you two have a fight?"

"Yeah. We always fight, at any age it seems. The girls are just like us sometimes." Emma's smile was tinged with sadness as she started her story. "But no, this happened a while back last year..."

 


	18. Emma's story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (set in Season 1, episode 1x12ish, after Emma becomes Sheriff but before Kathryn's disappearance)

_Last year..._

Emma took a deep breath to calm down, trying to psych herself up for meeting the Mayor and keeping her cool through whatever happened this time. Every single run-in she'd ever had with Regina had ended in an argument or a fist fight or a sawn-off tree and she was determined that this time would be different. After all, she was there to offer her thanks and it wouldn't be gracious to throw it in her face after what Regina had done for her, regardless of what had happened between them in the past.

_Be nice. Be polite. Don't start any shit even if_ _she_ _does... and no matter what she says, do_ _not_ _retaliate!_

Regina barely looked up from her paperwork when she felt someone enter her office and come to stand in front of her desk.

"Sheriff Swan. I'm very busy."

Emma forced her eyes not to roll. "Yeah I know, this won't take long."

"It's already taking too long."

_Don't don't don't!_

"Uh, I just came to thank you, Madam Mayor, for donating the money for the KidSpace project. It's going ahead now and we really appreciate the support-"

Regina broke in. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Emma frowned in confusion. "You sent me a cheque didn't you?"

"That was supposed to have been anonymous," said the Mayor, unable to hide her annoyance.

"Your signature may be a scrawl but the rest of your handwriting's not..." Emma plucked a form out of the air like it was evidence in a courtroom. "Nobody except you fills out forms like they're royal decrees."

" _You_  certainly don't. Nobody but you has penmanship worse than my son."

"Ok fine, whatever! But why do you want to remain anonymous? The project's only going ahead because of you, people will like to know who to thank. It's important to a lot of us and it's going to be great for the kids."

"I didn't do it for thanks. All good deeds have selfish motives at heart and none go unpunished."

Emma wondered why the brunette was being so prickly over this. "Come on, Madam Mayor. At the very least it'll help your political image."

"My image needs no help from you, Sheriff Swan," said Regina, pointedly looking her up and down.

Emma ignored it, fighting the urge to fidget under the scrutiny. "But if people knew the Mayor was involved it could help our cause."

Regina shook her head slightly. "Aren't you planning to rent that dilapidated hall next to the church on Second?"

"Yes but-"

"Mr Gold owns it. If he knows I'm involved he'll reject your rental application on principle."

"Why would he care?"

"He likes to spite me."

Emma stared at the stony-faced Mayor strangely, unable to determine what was behind this sudden act of benevolence towards her and her pet project. Regina obviously wanted it to remain anonymous for a reason. Maybe she didn't want it to look like a meaningful gesture or anything personal whatsoever... except that it kinda did.

"Sheriff Swan. Don't make this out to be more than it is. I had some leftover money in the budget - that's all."

Emma smiled mildly. "You're lying."

Regina froze, blotting her pen on the page of her paperwork.

"It was a personal cheque," said Emma triumphantly. "Nothing to do with the Town. If you don't want people to know they won't hear it from me... but I know your secret now."

"What secret is that," said Regina tightly.

"You're not all bad, Regina."

* * *

Mary Margaret was surprised. "It was Regina who gave you the money for your project?"

Emma nodded. "Yep. Surprised me too."

"Huh. Well that was... nice of her."

Emma grinned slyly. "Yes it was. Turns out she has a soft spot for orphans. After all, she did adopt one."

"Uh, Emma? I think you forgot to mention a kiss?"

"Yeah yeah. I'm getting to it," said Emma, impatient with her mother's impatience. "So. Regina didn't want anyone to know it was her - probably thought it would ruin her ice-queen image - and even though she was pissing me off on a daily basis, I really was grateful. Anyway, so I invited her to the opening day but she had her assistant decline on her behalf saying she had conflicting appointments."

Mary Margaret giggled. "Right."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," agreed Emma. "But she turned up anyway..."

* * *

_Last year..._

Emma was still setting up the tables inside the hall, where there would be tea and coffee and soft drinks set out later with an assortment of snacks. They were intending to have a small informal party to officially open KidSpace and many active members of the community as well as a bunch of teenagers were expected to turn up.

It was still a few hours before the party would start when Emma saw the one person she did not expect to attend standing in the doorway.

Regina cast a critical eye over the place. "I feel like I should burn my shoes after stepping in here, Sheriff Swan."

Emma raised her eyes, trying not to react to her snobbery. "Thanks, Madam Mayor. I'll get down there on my hands and knees with a toothbrush until it's scrubbed to your satisfaction."

"Please do."

Emma rose from her crouch, where she'd been cleaning a suspicious-looking stain on the back of a lounge, and snapped off her cleaning gloves. "What are you even doing here? Your assistant said you were busy and the party's not for hours yet."

"I came to see if my money was being well-spent."

Emma rolled her eyes. "If you wanna have a go at the Playstation it's over there. Can you dance? I'll battle you at DDR later."

"What?"

"Regina. The only way you're gonna get your money's worth is if you come to the party and see how happy all the kids are. Either that or beat me at the game, which is a thing that is never going to happen by the way."

Emma was amused by Regina's evident confusion at the suggestion that there could be something she wouldn't win at. Everything just had to be a competition between them.

A slovenly-looking youth came in and held out a box to Regina. "Er, where do you want this, lady?"

"Set it down on the table."

Emma snorted dryly, watching Regina pay the kid a handful of notes before he slouched away. Of course the Mayor would pay some random kid to haul a box around for her rather than carrying it herself. How imperial. Regina was always flawlessly constructed and so formal in address that sometimes it was like she was plucked from a different era. Not to mention how she enjoyed lording it over the populace and getting her own way. Emma could see why Henry would think to connect his mother to a fairytale queen.

"Did you bring me some toys?" joked Emma, coming over to peer in the box.

"Yes. Some of Henry's old things."

Emma was mortified. "You made him give away his toys?!"

Regina tsk'd crossly. "No. He didn't even remember he had half of these things. I asked him if he had any toys he didn't like anymore and when he heard who they were for, he came up with plenty."

"I'm not taking my own kid's toys away from him," grumbled Emma.

Regina sighed. "Henry has a room full of toys. He won't miss a few. He's outgrown most of these anyway. He's growing up too fast..."

* * *

"EMMA! Where is the kiss?!" demanded Mary Margaret.

"Hold ya horses! I'm getting there," said Emma defensively.

"Sorry. You were saying...?"

Emma continued her story. "So, Regina turned up to give me shit about how I was cleaning the place and she brought a bunch of toys to donate - by the way, you should see Henry's closet. It's hard to know where the hell those old toys used to fit because it is still packed full of stuff. I had next-to-nothing when I was his age. Regina has totally ruined my kid, no wonder he's a spoilt brat-"

"Emma!"

"What?! He takes after me, doesn't he? Except when he's being a clever little smartass, that's  _all_ Regina, right there."

"Emma." That warning motherly tone again.

"Alright, on with the story," said Emma, sighing. "Regina ended up watching me clean for two hours. I know - it was really weird. We were just kinda talking the whole time and when other people started turning up, I realised how late it had gotten and she was still there..."

* * *

_Last year..._

"I should go," said Regina stiffly, eyeing the small crowd of people already gathering.

"Stay?" pleaded Emma. "Come on, they've already seen that you're here. It'll look suss if you leave now. People will think my party sucks."

"I'm hardly dressed for the occasion. If I'm here in an official capacity I should've worn a suit."

Emma almost burst into laughter, taking in the brunette's appearance. Regina, of course, was dressed impeccably in one of her usual corporate-style Mayor outfits. She'd outshine anyone attending, guaranteed.

"You look fine. Don't worry," said Emma, unable to keep a straight face. "In fact you are way overdressed, trust me. We'll be lucky if the teenagers' clothes are covering their midriffs and nipple rings."

"What rings?"

_Oh, you make it too easy, Madam Mayor!_

"I'll show you mine if you're so curious," offered Emma innocently.

A tall lanky teen with ears full of piercings reached past Regina for a Coke off the table. He gave the Mayor a sullen look and then scuffed away, jeans hanging down somewhere between butt and mid-thigh showing his boxers.

Regina grimaced. "Henry's going to be one of those one day, isn't he?"

Emma grinned. "A teenager? Yeah, that's kinda how it works ... it's the whole 'getting older' thing. That happens when you feed them apparently."

Henry ran over to them, overflowing with energy. "Emma Emma Emma. Hi hi hi. Hey Mom!"

"Kid, what's up with you?" Emma laughed.

"I beat your high score on Dance Dance Revolution! It wasn't hard cos you suck at it, Emma."

"Hey! I do not."

Henry turned to Regina hopefully. "Mom, can I have a Coke?"

"I said you could have  _one_ , Henry," chastised Regina. "You look like you've already had several."

"So I can have one more?" Henry said cheekily.

" _No_ ," Emma interjected first. "You're already climbing the walls, kid. Go play."

The boy ran off again heading for the games system, leaving Emma and Regina to exchange rueful shakes of the head. They stood in a comfortable silence for a while, watching their son play from across the room.

"So," Emma shifted her weight from foot-to-foot. "Are you gonna tell me why you donated the money?"

"No," said Regina, maintaining that unreadable expression.

"Fair enough. Is it related to why you wanted to remain anonymous?"

"Yes."

Emma nodded, listening carefully to the monosyllabic answers. She was satisfied that they were the truth, but they still weren't very informative. Even though she was ruled by her emotions, Regina could be the most inscrutable person in the world sometimes.

"So, what were you like as a teenager?" said Emma, casually trying to make conversation.

"I can't remember."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Sure."

"I suppose I was … like I am now. I haven't changed much."

Something about the slight sadness in Regina's tone revealed more to Emma than she'd bargained for in asking that question. She wondered what the brunette could have in her past that would make her sound so … disappointed? As much as Emma enjoyed giving Regina as much shit as possible, she could admit that her son's mother was beautiful and educated and successful... she was Mayor for god's sake, she owned the town. She had power and wealth and could get whoever or whatever she wanted.

What could  _she_  have to regret over the way she'd turned out?  _It's not like she was an orphaned juvenile delinquent like me_ , Emma scoffed at the very thought.  _Bet she was valedictorian. And prom queen._

"Well, anyway." Emma half-smiled. "I'm sure I won't surprise you by saying that I was a total hellraiser when I was a teenager. I was always in trouble over something."

"I'm shocked to hear it."

"That's why I organised this place." Emma looked around the room, eyes landing on the battered furniture and the young people hanging around having a good time. "I used to go somewhere like this when I was younger, when I wasn't sneaking into movie theatres that is. I just think that maybe if kids like me had a safe place where they could be themselves, maybe the world would seem like less of the crapsack that it is."

"I'm sure there are worse places than this world," said Regina quietly.

Emma shrugged. "I haven't forgotten where I came from."

Regina looked at her so sharply that Emma changed the topic after that. Not many people wanted to hear about her troubled past or her cynicism (she'd learned that the hard way) and Emma highly doubted that someone as put-together as the Mayor could have empathy for her. If she did, hell would surely freeze over before she'd admit it.

Even though Emma was the host of the party and many guests kept coming up to thank and congratulate her during the night, she spent most of her time talking to Regina. For hours now they'd managed to be civil and Emma found that was actually enjoying herself, not wanting it to be over so fast. She did wonder why Regina had bothered to come and was half-expecting an argument to spark at any moment that would make the brunette leave … but it never happened.

* * *

"It was dark by the time the party ended," Emma continued. "Regina had walked there earlier in the day from Town Hall and Henry had come straight from school so I offered to drive them home."

"Smooth," said Mary Margaret approvingly.

"Yeah I thought so too," teased Emma. "Turns out Henry had been scoffing sweets all night behind our backs and he crashed pretty hard. I carried him upstairs so Regina could put him to bed. Did you know there's a whole process to it? You don't just dump 'em in bed, apparently you have to get them into their pyjamas without waking them up and tuck them in with the special whatever-they-have. Henry's is a blanket and he sleeps like he's dead to the world."

"And...?" prompted Mary Margaret, sensing she was getting closer to the good part.

Emma looked down nervously. "I uh, stayed for a while after Henry was in bed. Regina didn't ask me to go so I didn't offer to leave. She got us glasses of wine and we talked and it was... nice and for once we went more than five minutes without arguing."

"Then what happened."

"I screwed up. I wasn't drunk though. I'd only had one glass, I swear. I guess I just got the wrong idea..."

* * *

_Last year..._

"What are you doing to me, Emma?!"

Regina covered her mouth with her hand in shock and leaped off the couch. Her heel scuffed on the carpet and she nearly stumbled back in her haste to put some distance between herself and the woman she'd been in an embrace with seconds before.

Emma stammered, but no words came to her lips. "I - um-"

"Leave.  _Now_."

Regina stalked out of the study, heading for the front door to kick her out. She held the door open and the cool night air rushed in, but Emma had no intention of leaving without trying to figure out what the hell had gone so wrong.

"Regina, please - can't we talk about this? I'm sorry - I thought you might've changed your mind since what happened last time- I know you said you didn't want a relationship but I thought maybe you were just unsure because-"

"I don't care what you thought! I ought to have you charged with assault."

"What!" cried Emma defensively. "It was a mistake okay. It definitely won't happen again."

"Stop shouting at me, you'll wake Henry!"

"Regina, YOU are the one who's yelling," hissed Emma, unable to keep her voice down in the echo-y foyer.

"Get out of my house!"

Emma could feel her control slipping along with her anger and Regina seemed to be having similar trouble, judging by the way her chest was heaving like she couldn't get air. If she didn't know better, the blonde would've said the other woman looked afraid. She'd never seen the Mayor look so utterly discomposed … and over something as simple as a kiss?

"I don't know what the hell is happening here! Why are you overreacting? It was just a kiss, it's not like I intended to molest you. I got the wrong idea and trust me, I won't be trying anything again. Besides, you kissed me back. You can deny it all you want, but I felt it. Both times. You think I didn't notice you practically had your tongue down my throat?"

Regina glared at her, deathly serious. "Sheriff Swan, leave now. If you ever bring this up again or refer to it in any way, the next time you'll be seeing Henry will be through a telephoto lens at his college graduation."

Emma gave her a tainted smile and shook her head. "You always gotta play it don't you, Regina? Your fucking trump card. Well, don't waste it. There's only so many in the deck. You can't keep Henry away from me forever."

Emma heard the door slam shut behind her as she stalked down the path to her car. When she got home, there was no-one she could to talk to about it and so she ended up punching the crap out of her pillow as the tears of disappointment fell.

* * *

"That... did not go well," summarised Mary Margaret.

"Yeah," Emma drew the word out slowly. "But I-"

Mary Margaret saw that Emma was still holding back from her, afraid of how she'd react to whatever she had to say.

"Mom, I can't get her out of my mind!" cried Emma suddenly. "I can't stop thinking about her. What am I supposed to do?"

"You have feelings for Regina," asked Mary Margaret gently.

"Yes!" Emma's voice started to shake. "I know it's the most screwed-up thing ever. She hates me. She's tried to kill me at least twice. We can't afford to let Henry get hurt. And it'd never work anyway because of all this stupid fairytale stuff - because of you and her! Maybe I'm selfish, but my whole life I've never had any family and now that I do I don't want to give them up. I can't choose between you and her and that's what it'd come to, I know it!"

Emma stuffed her fists into her eyes and breathed out raggedly. "It doesn't matter anyway. She doesn't want a relationship with me. I don't know why I can't get over it. Every time I see her, I get pulled back in and fall for her again."

Mary Margaret guided her daughter into a hug and rubbed circles on her back.

"Emma. Why do you think Regina reacted that way when you kissed her?"

"She hates me? I don't know! Maybe she felt nothing."

"No," Mary Margaret said softly. "You know Regina only reacts badly when she feels too much, not too little."

"Really?" said Emma in a small voice.

"Yes. I'd be willing to bet that she was overwhelmed by what she felt. I think that's what happened with Em and Ri as well."

Mary Margaret drew out of the embrace and stroked a thumb over Emma's cheek, gazing at her daughter's face like she was tracing out a memory - or trying to memorise it.

"That wasn't even the first time I kissed her," Emma confessed. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to try again after what happened the first time. There was blood - literally."

"The first time?"

"Yeah. It was-" Emma waved her hand vaguely. "I dunno. It's a long story. Another time maybe. She pushed me away then too."

"Did you ever ask her why?"

Emma scoffed. "No. Have you MET Regina? She's not exactly approachable. She threatened me with not seeing Henry if I ever brought it up. What could I do?"

"How did Regina act afterwards?"

Emma shrugged sarcastically. "She acted like it never happened. What else. I was stupid for thinking she might have feelings for me."

Mary Margaret was concerned by her daughter's constant self-deprecation, as if her emotions and thoughts weren't valid or worth anyone's consideration. Sometimes she still sounded like the seventeen-year-old who often termed herself an idiot or a "bad kid". She hated that her daughter must've grown up being told that so many times as to eventually believe it.

"Emma. Why do you act as though you hate Em?"

"Because," Emma paused to exhale slowly. "If I had've been good enough, if I hadn't have been such an idiot... maybe I could've kept Henry."

"It's time to forgive yourself for that, Emma."

Emma gave a tiny nod. "I was afraid of where he'd end up but he did okay. He got Regina. And even though she used to be the Evil Queen, she wasn't that to Henry. She's his Mom."

"You both are."

"Yeah. But you should see this treasure trove she's got of him - photos of him and paintings he did - she kept everything. I think she wanted to be a Mom really badly. I don't think it was easy for them but I'm glad they had each other. I wish I could fit in too. It could never work, but if it did and there was even a chance that it could... it'd be amazing. But there's no fairytale endings for people like me."

"Emma, can I ask you - you don't have to answer - but I've heard Em mention girls but obviously you were with Henry's father...?"

"I know what you're asking. And yes."

"Oh."

Emma's voice was strained and she looked down. "Are you disappointed."

"No! Emma, no." Mary Margaret shook her head firmly. "I was just thinking that it wouldn't have been easy for you if you'd grown up in the Enchanted Forest."

Emma snorted softly. "It's not like it was even easy  _here_."

"I'm only disappointed in the world - never you. There's nothing you could ever tell me about yourself that would change how much I love you, how much I wanted you from the moment I knew you existed."

"Thankyou for loving me back. You know that I forgive you for giving me away don't you? I hope you forgive yourself too - you made the right choice and now we get to be together but - I just wish - it's just that -"

Emma was trying so hard not to cry but she couldn't control the breaks in her voice any longer, "Can you help Em? When I was younger, I could r-really have used a Mom."

"Well, you've got one now." Mary Margaret pulled an embarrassed Emma into her arms. "You're never too old to fit into my arms, my baby girl. But you're right, there's someone else here who needs a Mom right now, someone who's never had one before either... I'll have a talk with Em when she's ready."

After a while, Emma sat back and swiped her face roughly. "What should I do about Regina? Before she left the other night ... I think she was reaching out to me and I really hurt her. She can't possibly have changed her mind can she?"

Mary Margaret patted Emma's hand. "If you are certain that Regina does not and never will feel the same way about you as you do about her... then you should let it go. You can't fight for what doesn't exist."

" _But_ ," Mary Margaret tipped her head forward with a twinkling smile. "If you still think there's a chance, don't be afraid to take it. I know you said she's rejected you twice. But don't forget - where we come from, where Regina grew up... you two would've been a brand new story. You said it wasn't easy for you here, maybe it's not easy for Regina either. Things were different last year ... she was Mayor and a single Mom, the curse was still in effect, and she had a lot to lose... I don't think I need to tell you how badly it ended the last time she fell in love."

Emma nodded to herself and blew out a breath. "Ok, I will consider the possibility of maybe trying again...  _if_  Regina gives me something of a hint first. I'll try. Even though she could literally shoot me down in flames this time."

Mary Margaret gave her an adoring smile. "That's my girl. Third time's the charm."

"So are all mothers this annoyingly chipper and hopelessly romantic? Or is it just cos mine is Snow White. You're not gonna sing to me are you?"


	19. Holding out

Almost everyone had made an attempt to cheer Em up but no-one had succeeded thus far. She wasn't in much of a state to be causing any trouble so they'd left her to her own devices during the days that followed, but all she did was mope and ignore them and pick at whatever food the adults brought to her.

Mary Margaret had reached out to Em a few times but the teen didn't seem to respond to her. Not that it would stop her trying but she didn't want to push Em before she was ready.

She went into the bedroom where her young daughter was and laid herself on the bed next to her.

"I'm here if you want to talk, Em?" said Mary Margaret to the teen's back.

No answer.

"Do you want to be alone?"

Em didn't answer 'no' but she also didn't tell her to get lost, so Mary Margaret stayed close just in case. She decided to tell Em a little story, like she had when her baby girl wasn't yet born.

"When I found out I was pregnant with you I knew you were going to be a girl. You used to keep me up all night kicking me, or sometimes you would have the hiccups - you always used to get them at night. Your father would put little things on my stomach so he could watch you kick them off. I had your name picked out early but I didn't tell him. It was our little secret and I used to whisper your name to you when I read you stories. My little Emma."

Mary Margaret smiled wistfully, caught in old memories.

"Your birthday was the happiest day of my life. I wasn't sure I could ever have a child and as soon as I knew you were on your way, I couldn't wait for the day when I would finally hold you. But it was also the saddest day of my life, the curse was coming and I only got to hold you for a few moments... but as soon as I had you in my arms, I knew that I never wanted to let you go."

She brushed away an errant tear and sniffed. "It hurts to think that you ever feel unwanted and alone, Em. I loved you from the first little flutter I felt and you were  _so_  wanted, sweetheart."

"It hurts to see you so upset because I don't know how to make you feel better."

Em still hadn't said anything so Mary Margaret got up to go, not wanting to push it in case she angered or hurt the girl anymore than she already was. But as soon as she went to the door, a small voice came from behind her.

"Please don't go?"

* * *

"Am I doing it right?" said Ri, frowning at the pastry she was rolling out on the kitchen bench.

"Yes, that's fine," said Regina. She took out a few apples to wash them.

"Those apples are from my tree," said Ri, eyeing the perfect Honeycrisps with wonder. "You still have it! It must be enormous now."

"Apart from an entirely unprovoked act of vandalism it is still growing strong."

They were making apple turnovers but it was taking longer than usual because Ri stopped to cry several times. After the protection that Regina had offered her younger self for the first time the other night after hardly speaking to her in the days beforehand, Ri had finally felt able to open up to her and she began to ask Regina all manner of questions. The young girl had never had anyone to talk to before about how she felt about everything, especially one who understood her  _perfectly_.

Ri understood Regina's ignoring her for so long. Each of them was hurt to see who the other was and all it did was remind them of being disappointed by life and feeling powerless in an unfair world.

The one topic they both avoided was the curse. For Regina it was the distant past and for Ri it was the distant future. Neither of them wanted to focus on it as much as they wanted to deal with the present. It was too painful to go through again.

Ri looked at Regina curiously as she peeled the apple skins deftly. "How do you know how to do this?"

"I've had a lot of time on my hands."

"Mother says cooking is for servants. I'd never be allowed to do this at home! Oh, I'm sure you know that don't you."

"Yes, but Mother was wrong about a lot of things."

"I miss her and Daddy," said Ri sadly.

"So do I."

"Daddy doesn't pay much attention to me, he just leaves me to Mother's care. She is always so hard on me, she criticises every single thing. Nothing I ever do is right! Sometimes I think she doesn't really love me."

Regina hissed when the sharp blade of the knife slipped across her palm.

Ri cringed. "Ooh, that must hurt."

"Mmhm." Regina stuffed her hand into a tea towel to soak up the blood from the stinging cut.

"Regina, did Emma make you an offer of marriage?"

Regina was barely able to hide her mirth at the phrasing and the image that sprung to mind. "Not exactly. Things are different in this world."

"You went on dates then? Em explained it to me, she said that's what happens here when two people like each other."

"No, we didn't go on a date."

"Why not?"

Regina raised her shoulders, struggling for words. "It's... complicated."

Ri looked at her earnestly. "But she likes you, can't you tell? At first I thought she hated you, but now I think she's just afraid that you hate  _her_. What happened between you two?"

"She kissed me."

"Really!" Ri almost squealed. "It's wonderful isn't it? The way it feels when she kisses me is so amazing... so overwhelming, I almost can't stand it. Is that how it is for you?"

"Yes, but the last time was a while ago... it ended in a fight. I made sure that she wouldn't want to try it on me again."

"Oh. That's so sad. Maybe I won't get to kiss Em again either." Ri's lip trembled and twin tears fell down her cheeks again.

"I'm sure you will."

"Oh! I wish I could stop crying," complained Ri, impatiently swiping at her cheeks.

"I wish I could tell you that it gets better."

Ri brightened through her tears. "Regina! It's different here isn't it? What if  _you_  asked Emma?"

"What?"

"Ask her to marry you! I mean - date, sorry. Ask her to go on a date."

"I don't think so."

"Ohhh why not," said Ri mock-grumpily. "It would be lovely. Then I'd know that Em and I end up together. You could be a family with Emma and her son! Henry is such a sweet boy."

"I don't know if Emma wants that anymore, if she ever did. She has her family now and I doubt that includes me. It's never going to work," said Regina quietly, returning her attention to slicing the apples.

Ri took a bite out of one of the apples. "You wish it would. Maybe she just wants to know if you like her? Can't you do something to let her know?"

"It's too late for us. Are you ready to go see Em yet?"

"I'm not sure, but I want to. Can we go somewhere first though?"

"Of course." Regina smiled fondly, realising where her younger self wanted to go.

* * *

Emma scrolled through the series of calls and texts she'd sent Regina since she and Ri disappeared from the B&B the other night. All of them were unanswered.

_Regina, are you guys ok?_

_I know you are at home but can you please reply so I know you and Ri are ok?_

_Henry's asking about you. He knows something's up cos Em is really upset. How is Ri?_

Today's most recent message read:

_REGINA! Answer ur phone FFS!_

Emma sighed and threw her phone on her desk at the Sheriff's station. She was worried about Ri after what'd happened the other night. The poor girl had looked devastated. She wasn't exactly sure why but something had happened with Em that had broken her heart. She was also worried about Regina having to essentially relive that again, it must be dredging up old painful memories for her.

Emma hoped that Ri and Em would make up. She wanted them both to have a bit of happiness, just like Regina did. It might be too late for them but it wasn't too late for the teens. Maybe it was inevitable that this would happen - maybe all this showed was that even when they were younger and better and had less crap between them, they still couldn't make their relationship work.

On top of that there was all that other stuff with Storybrooke shrinking to worry about. There hadn't been anyone else who had lost their memories so far but surely it was only a matter of time. Emma felt that she could really use some magical backup right now, preferably some that didn't come bundled with a cane and a load of smug double talk.

When her phone beeped with a new message, Emma dove upon it and almost turfed everything on her desk onto the floor in her haste.

_'1 new message from Henry's Mom,'_ the display read.

She tapped through to the message after accidentally hitting the wrong icons a few times. What she saw nearly made her throw her phone at the wall. There was one message from Regina, an answer to the first text she'd sent, and infuriatingly all it said was:

_"Yes."_

Emma punched her phone screen angrily and decided to try calling the aggravating woman yet again. She knew Regina had her phone on her right now and if she ignored the call at least she would be able to yell at her for it next time in person.

Regina answered eventually. "Hello Emma."

Emma sighed out of frustrated relief. "Regina! Why haven't you been answering your phone? I've been trying to get a hold of you. I had no idea if you and Ri were-"

"We're fine."

"Seriously?! I've been worried sick about both of you and all I get is a one-word text and 'we're fine'?"

"Emma, calm down."

"Oookay," Emma gritted her teeth and exhaled slowly. "How is Ri? And if you say 'fine' I'm gonna come over there and kill you."

"She's ... ok."

"Really? Cos Em is devastated-"

"So is Ri. She's been crying a lot."

"I'm surprised she even went with you after the way you've been ignoring her this whole time. You did try to talk to her and help her through it, right?"

"Of course I did!"

"Did she tell you why she's so upset at Em?"

"It's complicated. She got overwhelmed." Regina's voice was quiet over the phone.

"Oh. When Em said she loved her? Is she -" Emma bit her lips together. "Does she feel the same way?"

"Yes."

"They need to talk."

Muffled sounds came over the phone, like Regina had her hand over the handset and was talking to someone else.

"Regina? Where are you? It sounds like you're- huh, can you hear me?"

The phone disconnected and Emma stared at the screen in open-mouthed confusion. She wasn't sure if she'd been hung up on or not. Judging from the background noise she'd heard they weren't at home right now, but where would they go? Maybe they didn't want to be found and Regina was ducking her calls on purpose.

Emma smirked to herself, only just remembering to grab her jacket before heading out. "Too bad for you, Regina, that I can find anyone I'm looking for..."

* * *

Mary Margaret went to sit on the side of the bed in front of Em, and although she was desperately wishing to comfort the girl by stroking back her hair or any number of motherly gestures... she held back, waiting to see if her daughter was ready for it.

Em's eyes widened as she noticed what Mary Margaret had in her hands. "Is that-?"

"Emma thought you might like it right now."

The pixie-haired brunette held out the baby blanket with a loving smile and Em grabbed it greedily, immediately balling it up and hugging it to her chest like it was her most precious possession - which it was.

"I haven't seen it in ages. It smells funny."

"That's laundry powder. Emma said to make sure you wash it thoroughly when you find it," said Mary Margaret teasingly.

Em sighed and buried her face in her blanky, feeling instantly calmer and more self-controlled.

"I made this for you, did you know?"

Em nodded. "It looks hand-made. I had it with me my first few houses but I lost it along the way. I'm glad I get it back. I was found wrapped in it, it's all I have. My only clue. I was always gonna go looking for my parents after I got out of the foster system... I guess I've found you now."

"How do you feel? Now that you've found us."

"Dunno. It still doesn't change the fact that I've been alone my whole life. But I guess it's good to know who I am - sorta."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not like you and David. I'm not even like Emma. I'm not good."

Mary Margaret gave Em a shrewd look. "Someone told me there's no such thing as Good and Evil."

"That's dumb. Of course there is."

It was funny that Em had contradicted her older self but Mary Margaret chalked the differences between them up to life experience and a bit of maturity. Although, now that she thought about it, the adult version of Emma had been emotionally immature and prone to juvenile behaviour when she'd first met her. It was only after Emma had gotten to know Henry, when she'd found someone who depended on her and after she'd decided to stay and make a place in his life that she'd grown up for real.

"You are not a bad kid, Em," said Mary Margaret softly. "I'm going to keep telling you that until you believe it."

"You love Emma?" said Em.

Mary Margaret smiled happily. "Yes, so much that I can hardly breathe sometimes. I loved her before I even knew she was my daughter. I never got to see Emma growing up and now that you're here I get to see her in a way I thought I never would. I love you as well."

"You don't even know me."

"I want to know you, but it won't change things because I already love you. I'm your mother. That's what unconditional love is."

Em snorted. "There's no such thing. All that means is that you're not gonna tell me what the conditions are until I break them. Then I'll find out how much you really love me."

"What conditions do you think I have?"

"Like I have to say."

"Try me."

Em rolled her eyes. "For a start, I'm sure you're thrilled to find out I'm a bratty streetkid."

"I am disappointed - but not by you. I sent you through the wardrobe to give you a chance to grow up and save us - to save yourself as well. I had no idea what kind of world you'd end up in, it was a terrible risk but I had no choice. I had to take the chance. I'm heartbroken that you ended up with people who didn't appreciate how special you are - and worse, people who hurt you."

"Yeah I've had some real winners. Most of them didn't really care what I did as long as they got their fucking cheques. It was only at my last place they knocked me around. I had a family once though."

"When you were little?"

"Yeah. When I was a baby up until I was almost adopted. Cos I was cute back then I spose and it was before I grew a smart mouth obviously. They sent me back when I was three."

"Do you remember what it was like?"

Em recalled vague memories and spoke with a sneer. "It was disgustingly perfect. Perfect house, perfect Mom, perfect Dad. The only thing that wasn't perfect was me."

"Em, you are-"

"Yeah whatever!" Em frowned angrily at the placating tone. "They said they loved me and we were gonna be a family for real, but then they sent me back when she got pregnant. They only wanted me if they couldn't have their own kid, like I was their second choice or something. Not as good as the real thing."

"Is that why you think there's no such thing as unconditional love?"

Em ignored that. "Y'know who gets me? Regina. Nobody can look past her evil deeds or whatever the hell happened back then, nobody loves her either."

"That's not true," said Mary Margaret quietly.

"Uh yeah it is. Her kid won't go near her, Emma treats her like crap, you hate her-"

"I don't hate her."

"Aw bullshit! Nobody is that perfect. You can't possibly be as good as that, to forgive her after what she's done to you."

"I can because I've known her a long time and I've always been on her side. She taught me something very important when I was little. She showed me a selfless goodness and I took it to heart. She saved my life - she  _changed_  my life. I took something precious from her and because of me she lost not just her love but her hope and freedom as well. I may not be able to forgive her actions but I will never give up on  _her_. She's family."

Em stared at her in wonder, unsure if this paragon of goodness and forgiveness really existed and if they were actually related for real.

"But you still don't want her and Emma together, right?"

"That's up to Emma and Regina."

"Yeah right. All you gotta do is give the Mother's Stamp of Disapproval and it'll be over. Like Emma's gonna want to choose between you."

Mary Margaret smiled a little, hearing Em say the exact words that Emma already had. "I'm not going to make her choose."

"What about me and -" Em broke off, feeling a painful jolt just at the thought of her.

"I saw your face when you two came back from your date the other night. Sweetheart, if Regina makes Emma as happy as Ri makes you …" Mary Margaret sighed. "I'd do anything for Emma and so would your father. We made a choice that affected your whole life. You missed out on a lot as a child and I won't stand in the way of my daughter's happiness ever again."

Em balled up her fists and pressed them into her eyes. "It doesn't matter anyway. She hates me now."

"Ri?!"

"I didn't mean for things to go that far. She asked me to take her away, I guess I just got the wrong idea."

Mary Margaret tried to contain a huge smile and failed. The whole conversation had been like a deja vu of the one she'd already had with Emma.

"I'm not so sure you were wrong, Em. I think the Regina's are holding out on you two..."


	20. Point of view

"That'd look good on you." Emma's voice was low and she was standing very close behind the slight form of a familiar brunette who apparently hadn't detected her presence yet.

Regina jumped visibly and rolled her eyes in recognition. She kept her attention firmly focused on the rack of clothes she was looking through without turning around.

"Anything would," said Regina archly. "Exhibiting your random magical talent I see. Am I about to regret answering my phone?"

"Where's Ri?"

"In the change room."

Emma went around to stand in Regina's line of sight. "Em is at home moping all day, I'm checking my phone every five minutes to see if you've deigned to answer any one of my messages... and you two are here, shopping at Miss Muffet's Teen Boutique?"

"She wanted a dress."

" _That's_  your big cure for her broken heart, Regina?!"

Regina looked annoyed. "If it makes her feel better then why does it matter?"

"Because. Shopping is stupid."

"I'm not at all surprised to hear you say that," said Regina, making an obvious show of looking Emma up and down. "Given your complete lack of attention to matters of appearance."

"Thanks. As if I haven't noticed you checking out my ass," said Emma immaturely. "What'd you mean before on the phone about Ri getting overwhelmed?"

Regina ignored the question and went over to look at some other dresses Ri would like. "How's Em?"

"How do you think she is?" said Emma sarcastically. She shrugged and let her arms slap against her sides. Seeing her younger self so depressed was a disheartening reminder of what her life used to be like and Regina's casual treatment of the question was grating.

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

"She's hurt of course! Do you think someone who's never been loved before - by anyone - can just brush that off easily? She put herself out there and got rejected."

"That's not what happened."

"Uh yeah it was. Em told her she loved her and Ri got upset and disappeared. That sounds like a rejection to me - and I would know."

Regina pinned her with a fierce gaze. "I told you-"

"-what, to never speak of it again? Yeah well, you should've made it a promise instead of a threat, Regina. You can't keep Henry away from me any more, so now I have no incentive to shut up just because you want me to."

"My son was taken from me," hissed Regina at a whisper, glancing around the near empty shop. "By you. Now you're keeping him away from  _me_."

"Even if I was it'd be exactly what you were doing to me last year. You just don't like the game when you're not winning... But I'm not keeping him from you! We're having this argument over and over, fighting over our kid. I thought we were getting somewhere the other day at your place. We need to talk. I can't keep doing this."

"Of course you can't," sneered Regina.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emma glared at her, waiting for an answer but of course she didn't get one.

What was with the two of them? Things could be calm one minute and a squall at the next. In coming to find Regina she hadn't intended to start an argument. They hadn't seen each other since the other night, when they'd caught Em and Ri together, and the unspoken implications for their own relationship were awkward as hell. Despite what'd happened, fixing the teens seemed to be the easier of the two right now.

Their staring contest was broken when Ri appeared near them. Emma's head whipped around at the younger version of Regina and her jaw dropped seeing the girl's new outfit.

When Ri spoke she was subdued and cheerless. "Hi Emma."

"You are so not wearing that," said Emma, staring at the teen in awe.

"You don't like it?"

Emma shook her head slowly. "It's-"

Ri had on a knee-length light-coloured dress with a black lace overlay. It was strapless and cut straight across her front, the tight boned-fabric followed her waist in a V until it flared into the skirt. She had on tights for warmth and a pair of ballet flats that Emma knew couldn't possibly belong to Regina, who she'd never seen wear anything other than heels (even when she'd twisted her damn ankle, the stubborn woman).

Regina handed her credit card to Ri and told her to go to the counter to pay for the dress and instructed her to sign her name.

"You can't get her to sign for you," said Emma snippily.

Regina gave her a patronising look. "She's _me_. It's hardly identity fraud, Sheriff."

"You can't let her wear that!"

"Why not."

Emma stammered. "It's like - it's - it looks like - it's a corset! It's showing her off- she's too young. She's gonna freeze outside."

"It's not a corset, it's a bodice. She picked it and I am not going to tell her she can't have it. You're being ridiculous. I can't decide if you're acting jealous or over-protective."

"Regina," growled Emma. "She's a young girl. You think it's ok for her to walk around like that and be ogled by every guy in town?"

"How is it her fault if men can't keep their eyes away? I wore far more revealing outfits than that, I assure you."

"Yeah, when you were the Queen and you had power and protection, not when you were-"

"-actually yes, when I was her age."

"Yeah great. So we should just encourage her to believe that her beauty and marriage value is all there is to her. Let's just water the seeds your mother planted then! Did you learn to use it to your advantage early?"

Regina smiled humourlessly. "You don't understand that world at all do you? You use whatever you have... you go as far as it takes."

Emma snorted. "We are not  _there_  anymore. We're here, in the real world where things make a bit more sense-"

"Not for much longer if the border keeps shrinking."

"I need your help with that-" Emma hissed.

"Why don't you ask Mr Gold? Perhaps he can help give you evidence of my guilt since apparently I'm responsible for everything that goes awry in Storybrooke. Have you any other unsolved crimes to blame me for, Sheriff? A burglary or maybe even a murder? Allow me to suggest 'Regina Mills in the conservatory with the wrench'. Clue was a favourite of Henry's." Regina's sass was at full-strength. "He can teach you how to logically assign blame if your detective skills are lacking."

"I'm not blaming you for it, I need your help!" Emma shoved her frustration deep down and became solemn. "Regina, in all seriousness Ri was really upset about what happened and she's still torturing herself over casting the curse. I'm worried for her. I need to know  _how far she'd go_  to try to prevent it."

"That won't occur to her."

Emma was partially relieved. "I hope you know yourself that well."

Regina shook her head with reproach, although it was hard to tell if it was for her self or others. "She won't even think of such a thing. She'll destroy everyone around her but not herself. Her life doesn't belong to her and it's not hers to control. She still thinks that her parents hold custody of it until she gets married and after that she'll belong to her husband."

Emma gritted her teeth and mumbled something under her breath that sounded like 'fuck that'. "This world might suck, but that one sucked worse. For you at least."

With that derailing of her vindictiveness, Regina seemed to be taken aback by the apparent empathy for her past.

They both spoke suddenly at the same time. "Emma, we should-"

"Regina, can we-"

They were interrupted when Ri came back holding the store bag, still wearing her new dress and a dove grey pea-coat of Regina's. She handed the credit card back to her older self and glanced at the tense adults who had hastily stopped talking, looking from one to the other.

"Is something wrong?" said Ri.

Emma softened her tone. "Ri, are you ok? The other night you were pretty upset."

Ri tried to smile but it was watery and thin. "I'm fine. Is Em-"

"She misses you."

Ri's eyes filled with tears. "I miss her too. Emma, are you really mad at me for what I did?"

"No, Ri -"

She didn't get the rest out because Ri threw her arms around her in a hug. The few times that Emma had gotten to hug Regina she was so stiff and reluctant that it was a fight to get to hold her. Even though Ri was much more pliant and it wasn't quite the same, she still felt the same urge to protect the girl in her arms that she did with the older version.

Ri sighed. "Oh, you feel so much like her... almost. I'm so sorry I hurt Em! I didn't mean to, I - what's that phrase she uses for overreacted?"

"Freaked out."

"Yes! That's it. Where I'm from, girls aren't supposed to do what I did. Not if they ever hope to get married. I was afraid of what would happen."

Emma stroked her cheek gently. "It's ok if you're scared. Em's just - she didn't know and she's scared too."

Ri looked down shyly. "I am scared. It feels like there's something wrong with my heart that time doesn't fix."

Emma opened her mouth out of curiosity but before she could ask, Regina interrupted. "Emma, it's nearly three-thirty. You have to go pick up Henry."

"Er, can you get him today? I want to talk to Ri for a sec."

Regina schooled her expression tightly, hiding the surprise that flashed across her face. "But he'll be expecting you."

"He's been asking for you since you left the other night," said Emma pointedly.

Regina didn't need to be offered it twice and she was out the door in seconds, leaving a handprint on Emma's shoulder as she ran out. That tiny hint of a truce made Emma smile long after she was gone. She knew Regina was desperate for time with Henry but wasn't going to force it if the boy was still reluctant to be around her. Hearing that he had missed her and wanted to see her must've given her hope that the relationship between mother and son was on the mend. No matter what Regina thought, Emma wasn't barring her from being with Henry.

They left the shop soon after Regina did and headed home. Ri couldn't help her giggles however, trying and failing to hide them behind her hands as she snuck glances at Emma.

"What," said Emma, sending a sly smile sideways at the teen.

Ri grinned coyly. "She likes you. Do you like her?"

"Careful, Ri, you're gonna get busted for insider trading."

Ri stopped her and cupped a hand over Emma's ear so she could whisper something.

"Is that so?" said Emma, breaking a smile.

Ri nodded fervently and pressed her lips to Emma's in a chaste kiss.

"Ri -"

"I know. I'm not the right one, I'm not your Regina. I just didn't want you to forget."

Emma sighed. "Trust me, I haven't."

"Don't give up. You're closer than you think."

Emma was warmed by the sweet girl's words, she was heartbroken herself and yet she still had enough heart left to care for others. She really wanted Ri to understand one more thing before they went back to Em.

"Ri. You're a beautiful girl and the dress is pretty but that's not why we like you... our favourite parts are  _here_ -" Emma tapped Ri's forehead and then laid one fingertip lightly over her heart.

"-and here. Getting married isn't as important as being loved by someone who knows how truly lucky they are to have you."

Ri's smile filled her whole face and for the first time Emma noticed a physical difference between hers and Regina's - there was no scar on her upper lip.

* * *

Standing outside the school gates among the throng of parents, Regina was highly annoyed at herself for feeling apprehensive. She wasn't bothered by the looks she got from some of the peasants though, it was her own son who was the reason. He hadn't lived with her for months and in that time he'd seen far more of her bad side than her good side - if she even had one. No wonder he avoided her, he was probably scared of her.

Things had been fractured between them for a while before Emma turned up in Storybrooke and then it had hurt  _so much_  to be replaced in favour of his "real" mother. Of course Emma would be the favourite, the fun one, the partner-in-crime who snuck around with him behind her back. Good heroic Emma. The Saviour.

Regina could hardly compete with that.

But she was his mother too and she'd thought that Henry had seen good in her in all the time he'd been with her. Maybe it was nothing compared to finding out that she was the Evil Queen though. Defending her would be a huge burden for a child, she knew that, but when Henry continually brushed her off despite her efforts to change she couldn't deny that it'd hurt worse than anything the others had done or said to her.

It was jarring that Emma had essentially given her permission to collect her own son from school today, but at this point Regina would take it. She was afraid of seeing Henry's reaction though, in case his face fell in disappointment or he refused to go with her. What if he-

"Hey, Mom. What are you doing here?" Henry appeared at her side, wearing his school backpack.

Regina twitched and had to stop herself from going to hug him, knowing better than to embarrass him in front of all the other children.

"I came to pick you up."

"Where's Emma?"

Regina smiled tightly. "With Ri. How was school?"

"Okay I guess."

They started walking away from the school but Henry wasn't satisfied with silence when he was dying to know the answers to questions Emma hadn't been able to give.

"Mom, what happened the other night? Everyone left and then you and Ri didn't come back. Em's really sad all the time and Emma's been cranky and she keeps hogging all the icecream. I don't know what's going on. Why is everyone upset?"

Regina was a bit gobsmacked by the barrage of awkward questions, not knowing how to answer.

Henry gave her his lopsided look. "Let me guess. You and Emma had a fight and so did Ri and Em."

"Ri and Em will work things out. It was just a misunderstanding."

"What about you and Emma?" said Henry slyly.

"That's different, that's -" Regina broke off, trying to hide it but she could see that her son wasn't buying it.

"Grownup stuff?"

Things between her and Emma were so undefined right now, she wasn't sure quite where they were at. They were strangely close but there always seemed to be something holding them back. As usual, the major cause of tension between them was disagreeing over their son but perhaps once that linchpin fell they could start to work on their relationship - whatever that was. Regina was not ready to have that talk with Henry though, she wasn't even sure if she was ready to talk about it with Emma.

"Mom, can I ask you ... What if someone does something bad but it's for a good reason, is the person still bad?"

Regina frowned, wondering if he was talking about Mary Margaret's treachery. The reminder of her mother's death pained her.

"What if they did something really bad like casting a curse, but everything turns out ok in the end. What if it ends up better than it was before? Are they still bad then?"

"Sweetheart, I didn't cast the curse for a good reason," admitted Regina, feeling mixed pain and hope at how her son was trying to rationalise what his mother had done.

"I know. You were trying to take away the happy endings. But in the book nobody actually got their happy ending in the first place! Cinderella lost her prince, Dreamy lost Nova, Princess Abigail lost Frederik, Rumpelstiltzskin lost Belle-"

"Henry-"

"-you lost Daniel, and Snow White and Prince Charming lost each other too."

Regina winced. "Not for long."

"It seems like no-one was really happy there. But in this world maybe the happy endings are possible, everyone has another chance. Including you."

"I can't-"

"Sure you can. You did bad things but it's all going to turn out ok, I know it. You've always been good, sorta, I just didn't see it before. Emma gets it cos she used to be bad too. But she's the Saviour, she's here to bring back the happy endings. Maybe she'll help you get yours."

Regina smiled widely in spite of herself, thinking about Emma. Even when she was Em she hadn't been "bad" on the same scale that Regina had been, no matter how hard Henry tried to connect them. She hadn't missed her son's transparent attempts at matchmaking either, of course a child would want his parents to be together, but maybe he was right. In a way, perhaps the curse  _would_  give her a happy ending after all. Was it really possible?

"You look just like her right now," said Henry, peering at his mother knowingly.

"Who?"

"Ri. You have the same smile."

* * *

"Em," said Mary Margaret in a firm voice that stopped the teen in her tracks as she headed for the door. "It's getting late, it's cold, and you are not going out."

"You can't tell me what to do," Em muttered stubbornly under her breath. But even so, she didn't leave. Instead she scuffed her feet and went over to plop on the couch roughly.

The front door to the apartment opened shortly after, revealing Emma and Ri. From the couch, Em took one glance at them before looking away in another direction, studiously ignoring them all.

Mary Margaret greeted them both from her position at the stove. "Ri honey, it's wonderful to see you back! You two must be freezing, come in and get warm. Hot chocolate'll be a second, Emma. I'm just waiting for the milk to boil. Do you want some too, Ri?"

Ri glanced at Em before answering. "Can I have mine plain with vanilla?"

"Do you want cinnamon with your hot chocolate, Em?" asked Mary Margaret, without getting an answer so she asked again more sternly. "Em, I asked you a question."

" _No_ , I do  _not_  want hot chocolate," said Em, stroppy at being forced to talk.

Emma placed a comforting hand on Ri's arm when the teen's face fell at getting the cold shoulder. Despite missing Ri desperately, her younger self was still smarting from what happened the other night and Emma was worried about what she might say to Ri before she got over it. She knew it was up to them to work it out, but she was half tempted to keep Ri away until she was certain Em was finished with her black mood.

"Nice dress, Ri," said Em snootily. "Where'd you get it - the Evil Queen's closet?"

Hurt flashed across Ri's face more at the tone used than the content. "No. I got it from a shop. At home it takes a week to wait for the dressmaker but here they have dresses ready-made. There were so many to choose from too."

Em crossed her arms grumpily and slouched further down the couch. She was determined not to look at her, figuring it was a trick to get her attention.

"Well, I bet half of Storybrooke enjoys the view."

"I'm not wearing it for anyone else," said Ri haughtily. "For your information, Em, this is the first dress I've ever worn that wasn't picked out by Mother. I chose it myself so I don't care if you don't like it because  _I do_."

Em merely picked up her aviator sunnies from the coffee table and replaced her glasses with the reflective shades.

Ri went with Emma to sit at the kitchen bench and when the drinks were ready, Mary Margaret placed the mugs in front of them.

"Mm, you sure you don't want chocolate in it, Ri?" said Emma, cupping her hot drink gratefully. "And cinnamon?"

"No, I like it this way." Ri took a sip of the hot milk and felt the warmth suffuse her from inside.

"Plain vanilla? Boring," teased Emma.

Mary Margaret reached over to swat Emma's shoulder playfully. "Leave her alone, you!"

"I love vanilla," said Ri quietly.


	21. Everything

Emma woke up cold in her single bed in the living room. It was the middle of the night and all was silent in the apartment. Em, Ri, and Henry were fast asleep in the beds to her left and right, and Regina was sleeping in Emma's bedroom by herself again.

Last evening, Regina had brought Henry back after school but she must've assumed that she would only be dropping him off before returning to her home. That was until Mary Margaret swiftly recruited her to help rescue dinner because  _"Emma is as much trouble in the kitchen as my husband"_.

After the whole family had eaten together, Regina wasn't allowed to leave then either:

_Henry pestered her, "Mom! I need help with my homework. It's due tomorrow..."_

_"Can you have a look at this, Regina?" asked David. "The Acting Mayor sent this memo thing over to the Sheriff's station. Emma said it was full of sh- ah, nonsense- but she says that about all memos..."_

_"Regina!" Ri pleaded before bedtime. "Can you braid my hair, I can't do it myself yet..."_

The Emma's were the only ones not to  _ask_  her to stay.

Everything was starting to catch up with Emma now. She was worried about the girls not talking to each other and how Regina was feeling and wondering to herself what was going on between them (if anything). She was worried about whether Henry was coping with this whole screwed up family situation. Mary Margaret's safety still niggled at her mind, as well as what her parents thought of her and what they thought of Em, and then there was this Storybrooke-shrinking time-travel weirdness going on...

She knew it'd all fall on her shoulders to figure this out. Everyone expected her to be the Saviour and it was hard living up to this perfect person they thought she was, when in reality she was a bit of a mess. If she was truly honest with herself she felt like running from it all. Her usual strategy was no longer an option.

"Screw this," she mumbled to herself and threw off her covers since they weren't doing their job.

Emma got out of bed and padded softly into her bedroom. With all the stealth of a practiced thief she opened the door quietly and crept in...

… and then promptly stubbed her toe on the leg of the bed frame with a thump.

"Ow fff-!" Emma gritted her teeth and silently screamed through the throbbing pain.

In the same instant, Regina jerked awake with a gasp. In the dim darkness, Emma saw the brunette's hand thrown out reflexively and feared that she was about to be made into toast.

"Wait! It's just me," hissed Emma in a hasty whisper. "Don't fireball me!"

Regina let her hand fall and breathed out in a relief that quickly changed to annoyance. "Emma. I'm not fond of surprises, especially ones that appear in the dead of night. What are you doing in my bedroom?"

"It's  _my_  bedroom. I'm cold, I came to get my blanket."

"With the amount of noise you're making blundering about in the dark I'm shocked you were ever a successful thief," said Regina at a half-whisper.

"I'm not using magic right now. That would kinda defeat the purpose."

"What do you mean?" asked Regina, asking not for the first time how much control Emma had over her abilities.

"I can't calm down. I need my blanket."

"Is it that knitted thing with purple ribbon? Em took it to bed with her."

Emma sighed tiredly. "She hasn't seen it in ages. I suppose she needs it more than I do tonight."

"What are you looking for now?" asked Regina, since Emma was still moving around the shadowy room, searching for something.

"My bed socks."

Regina's smile wasn't seen in the dark but it was heard in her voice. "They're in the bed ... on my feet."

Emma let out a pathetic grumble before padding to the door resignedly. "Alright. Sorry I woke you, Regina."

She heard the covers rustle as Regina sat up in bed. "Wait, Emma, don't go. Is it cold out in the living room?"

"The kids are fine."

" _You're_  cold. This room is warmer and it's your bed anyway."

Emma rolled her eyes, even though she knew it wouldn't be seen. "I'm not kicking you out, Regina."

"I have no intention of moving."

It took Emma a few seconds to realise what that meant and then it dinged in her mind when she did. Ok, that could be a hint couldn't it? she thought. Regina was pretty much suggesting that she should get in bed with her. Or was she? It was hard to tell with the ever-inscrutable woman. But she didn't want to read too much into it in case she got it wrong again, what if this time she-

"Emma! Either get in bed before you freeze so we can both get some sleep or I  _will_ fireball you. That'll definitely warm you up."

Sleeping together... that was definitely a hint. Emma's heart skipped with flutters of hope.

* * *

In the morning when Emma awoke she was laying face-down and half on top of Regina like a starfish. At first she'd gotten in the bed gingerly and kept to her own side, expecting to be kicked out at any minute. They'd lain side-by-side silently for a while until falling back asleep. But during the night she'd somehow managed to take up most of the bed and the blankets and captured her bed-mate possessively with an arm slung over her waist.

"R'gina, how long y' been awake," Emma groaned into her pillow sleepily.

"Not long."

"Both of y' are freaks. Henry's always up early too."

"He gets up to watch cartoons."

"You ok?" asked Emma. She rolled over to face her, lying on her side and stuffing her hands under her pillow.

"With what."

"Ev'rythin."

Regina paused, seeming as though unsure how to answer. She was smoothing the covers laying across her middle and Emma couldn't take her eyes off her hands.

"Did you get to talk to Ri the last few days? Did it help?" asked Emma.

Regina nodded slightly.

"Good."

"Emma, what did you mean last night. When you said you couldn't calm down?"

"Oh. Yeah, that's weird. It's better this morning for some reason. Sometimes magic builds up and I feel like my control starts to slip away. That's why Em's a bit random sometimes. The blanket usually helps, I don't know why."

"Your mother made it for you didn't she," said Regina.

"How'd you know?"

"I saw the embroidery. It's made of fairyshot, it absorbs the love and care it's made with. What's upsetting you?"

Em raised her shoulders lying down like a shrug. "I don't know what to do about the border shrinking or about Em and Ri. But I feel like I should apologise for what my idiot younger self did to yours."

"Don't be too hard on Em. Ri told me she wanted to be with her."

"Yeah, but she ended up getting hurt. Em went way too far, I doubt Ri was ready for that."

"You have to stop thinking of her as a victim, Emma."

"Huh? But she's about to -"

"Yes, I know what you want to say. But I'm sick of being labelled, I don't want to trade one label for another. Villain or victim - everything I do and think and feel doesn't come back to one thing. It was a long time ago. I don't even think of it that much anymore."

Emma looked at her skeptically, trying to read her face. "Are you sure? It's just - I can't think of you being hurt like that."

"I think you're imagining worse than it was. I didn't really know what it was supposed to be like and it was distressing and I didn't want it but -" Regina's voice broke.

Emma reached for her hand and she was surprised that Regina didn't pull away this time. She felt fingers slide between hers as they were laced together. Was this really Regina talking about some of her worst memories and letting her in? She always seemed to let emotions rule her judgment but at the same time she had a strictly controlled facade of power and untouchability. The Mayor had always given as good as she'd gotten and then some … but here she was now, showing vulnerability instead of that impervious wall.

Emma had never noticed before how small the brunette actually was, lying in bed beside her as they faced each other with their hands joined between them.

"It's ok to not be ok," said Emma softly.

"I was sick with grief over losing Da-" Regina's voice evaporated on the name and she closed her eyes briefly. "Snow was pestering me every five seconds to go riding. My father couldn't even look at me and my mother was making everything worse as she always did. I was so angry all the time, she was driving me crazy. Even after I had the ring and the crown I  _still_ couldn't do anything right."

Emma gave her hand a squeeze, pained by the bitterness in Regina's tone as she spoke about the past and the mother who had made her feel like she was never good enough. Thinking of poor Ri having to deal with all of that alone flooded her with sympathy. Emma knew what it was like to nurse a broken heart alone and how much worse everything in life seemed against that as a backdrop.

"Without her heart she couldn't love me," said Regina bitterly. "All she had was power and ambition. It made her dangerous. I never wanted that power but I became like her anyway."

"I'm sorry about what happened to your mother. You're not like her, you know? You aren't heartless."

"Yes, I'm dangerous for an entirely different reason."

"You don't have to be," Emma whispered and stroked her thumb across the back of Regina's hand. "Knowing Ri the way I do now I'll never understand how your mother was ever disappointed in her."

Regina smiled. "Em is a good girl too. I don't know that you believe that though."

"I used to think that there had to be a reason they gave me away, I figured there was something wrong with me and they knew it even when I was a baby and that's why they didn't want me."

"Give your mother some time and she'll get those thoughts out of your head I'm sure."

"I sorta told her some stuff about me that I thought she wouldn't want to hear, but she just listened."

"Did you really expect differently from Snow White?"

Emma chuckled to herself as a Disney vision popped into her head. "True. She didn't really abandon me did she? She was just trying to save me from some evil witch."

"Excuse me?" Regina objected sternly.

"You disguised yourself pretty well as an old hag in the movie by the way," teased Emma.

"That movie was a grossly inaccurate and obscenely biassed portrayal. It ought to be rated M for Moronic."

Emma started to laugh. "Oh I'm DYING to watch it with you just to see your face! Has Henry got it on DVD? Where's his laptop, we can download it right now-"

Regina's hand darted under the covers to jab Emma in the ribs and she flinched away.

"Hey, I was just being a smartass- Ah, stop!"

"No. You deserve it."

Emma tried to stop the uncomfortable jabs. "Regin- argh, cut it out!"

"Make me."

Emma tried to squirm away but there was nowhere to escape under the tangled sheets so she made a grab for Regina's hands to stop the attack. The brunette merely wore her trademark 'I'm winning' grin until Emma protected her ribs effectively by laying on top of her and pinning her hands above her head.

"Whatrya gonna do now?" mocked Emma.

"What do you think," said Regina dryly.

"I think you're stuck where you are."

"Is that so?"

Emma just raised her eyebrows and after a few seconds she saw a classic "oh shit" look spring into Regina's face as nothing happened. She knew the other woman never intended to lose this fight and would probably try to blast her across the room if it came to it but she wasn't going to let her succeed.

"Problem?" said Emma innocently.

"My magic!" gasped Regina. "What are you doing?  _How_  are you doing that?"

"Just evening up the battlefield a little."

"I hate your magic."

"Yep. I suck."

Emma saw Regina's eyes dart to her lips and felt all too aware of where she was lying, pressed atop a warm pyjama-clad body and their faces only inches apart. Time seemed to stand still and before she knew what was happening she leaned in to graze full lips with hers. The brief contact sent desire racing through her but suddenly a memory or two cut through the fog.

"Wait-" Emma breathed, a tiny distance away from parted lips.

"Emma-"

"I can't do this."

Regina sighed. "Then get off me."

Emma let go of Regina's hands and pushed her weight off to hover above her. "I shouldn't have - I can't believe this happened again. I'm sorry."

"You will be."

"W-what," Emma stammered. She examined Regina's lowered eyes carefully, expecting to see anger but there was none, she actually looked ... hurt.

Emma's jaw dropped in shock. "Oh my god. You  _wanted_  me to kiss you."

The realisation had Emma reeling - Regina wanted her after all. That must be why she was encouraging the romance between the girls, she  _did_  want it for herself. But things were always so tense between them, especially after what happened the night of the KidSpace opening party. Regina had practically thrown her out on her ass because of that kiss. Emma hadn't been brave enough or stupid enough to try anything again, but apparently Regina wanted her too.

"H-how long, Regina? I mean, after what happened last time I kissed you I thought - "

"I regretted it as soon as I closed the door."

"Are you seriously kidding me right now? Why didn't you say anything? Or ask me - or kiss  _me_ \- or - or something! After all this time -"

"I got overwhelmed," Regina admitted. "I felt so much, I couldn't stand it. I wasn't sure I wanted to go through it again, but now I don't know if I can live without it anymore."

"But last year … um, you tried to kill me?"

"It didn't matter what I felt, I had to stop you from breaking the curse. Everything was falling apart. I couldn't lose Henry."

"Yeah, but maybe we could've -"

Regina shook her head once firmly. "No. If we'd gotten together back then ... as soon as the curse broke, we would've lost it anyway. You would've blamed me for everything, for keeping the truth from you. You'd have hated me for it when you found out who I was. I'd have lost you both."

Realisation dawned on Emma. "That's what you meant after the  _first_  time I kissed you, when you said we couldn't be in a relationship..."

"Yes," Regina sighed. "It wasn't because of what you thought. I let you believe that. And then when you kissed me the night of the party... well, after two rejections I really didn't think you'd try again."

"So, what does this mean for us now?" said Emma, full of nerves but trying to cover it casually.

"If we … Emma, I can't  _half_  do this," Regina warned.

Emma exhaled in relief. "Good, cos I'm an all-or-nothing kinda girl."

"I don't think you understand -"

"No, I do," Emma nodded, feeling the import of what they were considering. "There's so much at stake, it's not only us that we're risking here, it's our son too. Our family."

"It's not just Henry, there's something else -"

They were interrupted then by a little knock on the bedroom door and both women straightened up to put a respectable distance back between them. Emma was instantly wary, wondering if it would be one of her parents and how things would look. She shot a perturbed glance at the unfazed brunette in bed next to her.

"It's Henry," said Regina, recognising the little taps.

Emma groaned just as the door opened and an eleven-year-old poked his head around.

"Emma! You  _are_  in here. Mary Margaret said to knock first, isn't that really weird? You were gone from your bed when I woke up. Did you and Mom sleep together?"

"Wha-?" Emma croaked in response.

Regina's eyes darted at her warningly and she shook her head minutely, indicating that Henry hadn't meant it like that. The boy's questions was entirely innocent. Why Mary Margaret was running interference raised suspicions as to what her former enemy knew and how much.

Henry came in and dove over Emma's quilt-covered legs and landed in the space between his mothers. He buried himself into Regina's arms and received a kiss to his forehead.

"Good morning, Henry. Did you sleep well?" said Regina, sounding relieved that he hadn't squirmed away yet.

"Mmhm. Why are you both in here?" Henry mumbled into his Mom's pyjamas.

"Emma was cold," explained Regina, sending her a smirk over the boy's head.

"Did Mom warm you up, Emma?"

Emma's eyes widened and she glared at Regina, who was merely amused by the whole line of questioning. The woman was stunning when she looked like that, even just woken up. Emma longed to mess her up a bit and see some of that perfection disrupted, preferably involving swollen lips and breathlessness and mussed up hair and -

"Yes, Emma. Do you feel warmer now?" asked Regina, all fake innocence.

"I - I think it's time for Fruit Loops," managed Emma. "Kid, you have to get ready for school."

Henry groaned. "We're making birdhouses. Again."

"Then I'm sure you're really good at it by now. I gotta go to work and do y'know Sheriff-y stuff."

"Not today."

Emma frowned. "Why."

Henry lifted his head off Regina's shoulder and peered at her with one eye open. "Cos you and Mom are going to go find the border."


	22. You and me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to post here last time, so there are two new chapters today (21 and 22).

"David, we have a problem," his wife informed him. She propped her hands on her hips and squinted down at David's desk at the Sheriff's station like he was a misbehaving student of hers.

"Mar. Don't start." David said warningly.

"This is a disaster."

"Yeah, I saw who came out of who's bedroom this morning too. But I'm sure Emma knows what she's doing. I doubt she'll want us poking our noses into this."

"What?" Mary Margaret stared at him in confusion and shook her head quickly as if to clear cobwebs. "What are you talking about David?"

"Er, Emma and Regina? What were  _you_  talking about?"

Mary Margaret sighed. "The Acting Mayor quit. Apparently he's had a nervous breakdown."

"I thought you said he was doing a bad job of running things anyway?"

"Dismal. But the problem is we have no-one to step in. There's no-one in this town who is even remotely qualified."

"Maybe we could run things for a while, you and me?" suggested David.

"This isn't the Summer Kingdom, David! You and I are only experienced at swordfighting and trading sheep-for-wood in the five minutes we actually ruled before the curse came. We don't know how to organise things in  _this_  world. We both have jobs of our own now."

"We're just going to have to make it work then. Somehow."

David's suspicions rose at the look that gleamed in Mary Margaret's eyes right now. It was familiar to him, more in his memories of her as the woodland princess rather than the schoolteacher, but it usually signalled a crazy idea. Like adding extra turrets to the West face, or asking the trolls nicely for a refund, or putting the baby in the magic wardrobe.

"There is one person here who is qualified to be Mayor," started Mary Margaret.

David raised his eyebrows incredulously. " _Regina?!_  You really want to give the keys to the city to the Evil Queen? You want to put your head back in the lion's mouth?"

"Yes."

"This is gonna be one of your ideas isn't it," said David ruefully.

Mary Margaret genuinely looked offended. "What's that supposed to mean, Charming? My ideas have always paid off in the past."

"Oh yeah? What about that time when you said we should go skinny dipping in Lake Nostos, the water that returns what was once  _lost_? That was  _not_  a good idea."

"Okay apart from that  _one_  time, David," said the pixie-haired brunette, rolling her eyes. "You know I'm right about this."

"Regina might not even agree to it."

"True, but I know just the person to help us sell this idea. She won't be able to say no."

David sighed warningly. "Mar, that's kinda evil..."

"It's not evil if everyone's doing it."

* * *

_The woods_

"Are you going to enlighten me as to why we are  _walking_  to the border like peasants?" said Regina, grimacing as her shoes bit it into her.

"Because we don't know where it is, Your Majesty, and I'm all out of pumpkin coaches," said Emma, trudging along beside her in the comfort of well-worn low-heeled boots that'd seen better days.

"Yes and why exactly does that preclude us from using either magic or a car?"

"If you use magic to transport us and we land outside the border we might not be able to get back inside with what's been happening. We don't know what will happen if you cross the border, Regina. At the very least you'll lose your magic."

"I created the town border. I'll be able to sense it when we get too close."

"Exactly. Hence the no driving thing."

Regina scrunched her face in irritation. "What?"

Emma shrugged. "Okay, I made that up. The border's not going anywhere - okay well,  _it is_ , but hopefully not that fast. If it is we're screwed anyway. I thought we'd walk so that - I just wanted to uh, talk to you."

"About what?"

Emma was watching the tarred road in front of her disappear under her feet with a gravelly crunch. She fidgeting with her gloved hands. "You and me ... and the younger you and me. They love each other, in fact they hit it off immediately. Why do you think that was?"

"Like you said," Regina paused. "They're us before life got in the way."

"Yeah, but when we were their age we hadn't even met, we were falling in love with other people and getting our hearts broken. They found each other before all that happened and they didn't fight about Henry like we did five seconds after we met because they don't even know. Everything comes back to our son."

Regina glared at her incredulously. "Are you  _blaming_  Henry for the state of things between us?"

Emma was quick to clarify. "No! Of course not. It's so not his fault. But still, we were fighting because of him."

"So your thesis is that we would've fallen in- ... become romantically attached if not for that. Like the girls did? Even though we have nothing whatsoever in common and you are incredibly irritating in addition to being sartorially challenged."

Emma pursed her lips, hiding a grin at Regina's dodging of the L word. She wasn't fooling anyone trying to cover it up with half-hearted insults.

"Maybe," said Emma. "Things are a bit rough between them at the moment though. That feels kinda familiar."

"Do you think that's a coincidence?"

"What is?"

"That things are changing for us right after they start having problems?"

Emma cocked an eyebrow and gave her a side glance. "You mean, is there only enough room in the universe for  _one_  Emma-and-Regina love story?"

Just the mention of that word startled Regina, enough that she scuffed her toe on rough gravel causing Emma to grab her elbow so she wouldn't stumble. The blonde used the opportunity to stop them both and turned to face her, standing only about a foot apart. She didn't call Regina out on her obvious reaction to the word that still hung in the air between them.

All was quiet this far out of town in the woods without even the sound of their footsteps. It was just them.

"How did Em and Ri get here in the first place?" wondered Regina, looking somewhere over Emma's shoulder into the peaceful verdure.

"It wasn't the Blue Fairy's do-over spell misfiring," said Emma confidently. "And I don't think she granted Henry's wish."

"Then what caused it? If not her incompetence."

"I think it was you and me. Our magic."

"I told you I didn't-"

"Not consciously. Not on purpose. I think we brought them here to save us. Separately and together we're both in trouble. They're not here so that we can save them and change the past... they're here to save  _us_  so that we can change our future. We brought them here to show us who we are and who we can be together."

Regina rolled her eyes sarcastically at the sappy words. "If I'd chosen my rescuers they wouldn't have been a petty larcenist and a doe-eyed ingenue."

"Ri isn't as innocent as you might think. She knows enough about the world to be frightened of it. That's wise. The world is crap."

"And Em never takes what anyone can't stand to lose. A noble thief."

All it took was one look at Regina's sly grinning face and Emma burst into laughter. They were both full of it.

Despite the fact that they had originated from Fairytale Land at different times, they'd both exhibited typical teenage personalities: snarky Em was a girl-crazy brat who never met a rule she couldn't bend and kind-hearted Ri was obsessed with clothes and desperately wishing for her first kiss.

They'd grown up now but the years behind them were stained. Both of them had been used and abused by life, then chewed up and spat out as a mess. Everybody expected them to just clean themselves up and get on with being good.

_Well. Fuck that,_  thought Emma.

"The world failed us both, Regina," said Emma, staring intently into her face. She took the Regina's hands in both of hers, feeling their warmth even through the leather. "It's time to take back what's ours. Our tragic teenage romance isn't over yet."

Regina started to shake her head a little. "You said yourself that too much has happened for us to be together?"

"I lied. Adults can have pretty tragic romances too. Look at you and me. Our relationship has been a total disaster from the start."

"We can't-"

"Actually, we can. I can make things happen remember? We deserve another chance."

"You weren't so willing to give me another chance the other day," Regina pointed out.

Emma paced a few steps backward and let her arms fall to her sides with a slap. "That's because - come on, you gotta know why, Regina!" she growled.

"I can't read your mind."

"I was hurt cos of how I feel about you and after what happened the night of the KidSpace party I thought it was all one-sided and that sucked hard..."

Emma sighed roughly. "Anyway. Um, I don't really do the relationship thing. Ever. Feeling nothing is a pretty attractive option when what you feel sucks but after a while it gets old. I never stuck around anywhere long enough to … I dunno, it just never seemed to work out or I'd start to want to move on to a new place. When I came here ... well, it's a small town, people talk, everybody knows me cos I'm Sheriff. I couldn't exactly have a one-night stand with some random and have it get back to Henry. Or you. Spose it's a good thing I didn't since I might've slept with someone who turned out to be Goldilocks or whoever."

Regina actually growled possessively. "That trollop? Yes, she'd have found you 'just right' I'm sure."

Emma was delighted by what that little drop of jealousy might mean. It made her wonder just how long Regina had been holding out on her.

"Ever since we met I..." Emma smiled sheepishly. "Well, you were pissing me off all the time and I knew you hated my guts so it was kinda er, embarrassing as hell to realise I was attracted to you."

"Of course."

"Hey! Do you mean 'of course I'd be attracted to you' or 'of course I oughta be embarrassed'?"

Regina smirked and ignored the question. "Go on. I believe you were saying how attractive I am?"

"Cute. Not funny, but cute," said Emma wryly. "I had to see you all the time because of Henry and because you were always involved in everything that was going on. Sometimes when we'd fight you'd be looking at me like - I dunno, I actually thought you were gonna kiss me that day at the mine. But I figured I was just seeing what I wanted to see. Especially after you told me to get lost once Henry was safe. I never intended to make a move on you or anything."

"So you changed your mind and decided to declare your affections for me?"

"Hardly. I think I  _lost_  my mind. Ugh, I dunno. The first time, I got caught up in trying to comfort you. But you kissed me back so I thought maybe you did feel something. The second time was a different thing. We were getting on great the whole night of the party and then talking in your study with the wine and the fireplace ... What was I supposed to think? That's the best date I've been on in ages."

"You are easily pleased then. I'll remember that."

Emma brightened. "Hey, was that you asking me out on a date?"

"No." Regina rolled her eyes. "If I had you would certainly know it. But you are sorely mistaken if you think I could be satisfied with only  _one_."

* * *

The teens had been left alone together in the apartment today, which should've been an opportunity for them to work things out but it wasn't happening so far. They still weren't talking and it was getting awkward for everyone now that the Regina's were back under the same roof with the whole family. Ri had tried a few times to talk to Em, but all the bratty blonde did was make a smartass retort or ignore her completely... and it was really pissing Ri off.

She didn't know why Em continued to be so cold to her, she'd caught Em looking at her sadly a few times like she was missing her. Why then was the other girl still being so stubborn?

Ri approached Em like one would a hurt animal, afraid of the rebuff she knew she'd get but willing to try again. The young brunette held out her hand where a shiny foil blister pack lay.

"Em? You need to take your medicine. Emma said to make sure you took the last one. She said that it's important to finish them all."

"Why."

Ri frowned. "So you don't get sick?"

"Who cares if I do," said Em sarcastically.

"Oh stop it!" Ri snapped. "Don't be so melodramatic.  _I_   _care_  and of course the others do too. We've been here for over two weeks and if you can't see how much they all care about you then you're-"

"What, an idiot? Yeah, thanks Ri. I already know."

"That is  _not_  what I was going to say."

Em crossed her arms and fell into the couch in a huff. She grabbed her aviator sunnies and then propped her feet up on the coffee table.

"Please Em, can we talk about what happened," said Ri, softening her voice.

"Fine.  _Now_  you wanna talk? You coulda backed me up the other day when Emma was getting in my face basically accusing me of molesting you. It was your idea, Ri! You asked me to take you away … What was I supposed to think! You let me take the rap for all of it and then disappeared."

"I - I'm sorry, Em."

"Yeah well, whatever. I told you something I've never told anyone before. You don't feel the same way. It sucks hard, but I get it. Story of my life."

"Em-"

" _I said_  I get it, Ri!"

Ri shook her head, trying not to get upset. "If you'd listen to me maybe I could tell you! Of course I have feelings for you, Em, I - …No! I'm not going to tell you when we're shouting at each other. You don't deserve it right now."

Ri strode over to the front door and grabbed Mary Margaret's coat to put on.

"Where are you going," asked Em flatly.

"Mary Margaret said we could go out today."

"Yeah, she said ' _we_ '. She didn't mean that you could go by yourself and get run over, or lost, or befriended by the local psychopath."

"I'm not a child," said Ri haughtily. "Stop treating me like one."

Em looked at the floor. "Ri, I'm sorry. Don't go out alone, please? I don't want you to get hurt."

"As opposed to staying here where  _you_  can continue to hurt me?"

As Ri turned and opened the door, she heard Em call out to her as she left. She was barely out of the apartment before she started to regret it. What was she thinking leaving by herself in this unfamiliar world! She'd never even left the estate before. She trusted the people who had been taking care of her here, but she did not trust herself to navigate her way alone through even a single day.

Ri was started to feel scared already, but there was one person she trusted more than anyone and the words she'd received like a parting gift now bolstered her courage:

_"I can find you in five seconds if you get in trouble, Ri. Don't be afraid!"_

* * *

After Ri left the apartment she started walking down Main street just for an excuse to get away. She hadn't intended to go very far before turning back but now she wasn't sure where she was. The landmarks were so strange here. All of the shops looked the same to her and there were so many of them.

Ri murmured to herself with a sigh. "I'm afraid I'm quite lost."

One of the shop signs caught her eye with a funny term she'd heard before. She stopped at the curb for a full five minutes this time before crossing the street, waiting to see if one of the amazingly fast horseless carriages was going to come and nearly collide with her again.

The bell rang as she pushed the door open so she could peer inside. This shop appeared to be full of artefacts and treasures.

"Hello, is anyone here?" called Ri. She went in and began looking around at the array of curiosities.

A smooth voice came from behind her. "You know what they say... profit in business comes from repeat customers."

Ri jumped and whirled around. A slight well-dressed man appeared, leaning on his silver tipped cane and smiling mildly at her. She wasn't used to greeting strangers and this man seemed well, threatening for lack of a more polite term - but then so did everybody. Whenever anyone came to the estate she was always carefully guarded by her mother or attendants. There'd been no opportunity to get used to different people.

"Sorry to intrude upon you like this but I need directions," said Ri, trying to hide how startled she was. "Can you help me?"

"Possibly, yes. I know who you are. Regina."

"Oh," Ri realised. "You must know me, the older me?"

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mr Gold," said the man, with a flourish and a genteel bow. "But that is not how I know  _you_ , dearie. I knew your mother. I remember the day you were born. It rained, just like you will one day. I held you in my arms and I even gave you a gift."

Ri smiled bashfully, as if he were some kindly relative. "Indeed? Thank you but being an infant I have no memory of it."

Mr Gold paced around her slowly, never breaking his piercing gaze. "Perhaps you don't. But I thought your heart did not easily forget?"

Ri shrank a little. "H-how do you know that?"

"That's the beauty of my gift. I'll tell you if you tell me what you're doing here."

Ri gulped and accepted the bargain. "I had a fight with my girlfriend so I left home. Now I'm lost and I don't know how to get back. I need to put things right. Can you help me?"

Mr Gold gave her a crooked smile. "I'm only too happy to help and show you the way. But first, you are going to tell me what you are  _really_  doing here."


	23. The mile

Regina winced and leaned a hand on Emma's shoulder so she could pull off her boots. "You tell anyone I did this and I will eat your liver."

"Right," Emma scoffed. "Who knew the Evil Queen was such a whiner. Aren't you used to high heels? You live in them."

"What I am not used to is traipsing about in the woods for miles. It was your idea to park all the way back there and walk. I'm getting blisters. Give me your shoes."

"What!"

"Here, take mine and give me yours."

Emma groaned and bent over to pull at the zippers of her boots. "This is a test right? About whether I'll be a good girlfriend and chivalrously donate my shoes to your good cause? I am so incredibly screwed aren't I."

"Stop complaining. I wouldn't have even worn these if  _someone_  hadn't stolen my favourite pair."

"Regina. Those would've been worse to walk this far in!"

"No. They're Prada, they look so good I wouldn't care. Yours on the other hand..." Regina handed her shoes over to Emma and then replaced them with the blonde's well-worn boots. "Don't tell anyone I wore these hideous flat things, it's embarrassing."

"Ha. No wonder you always wear heels. You're a shortass," teased Emma, from her lofty one-inch barefoot advantage. They were on the same level for the moment.

Regina was offended by the slight. "Excuse me? My mother always told me I was tall. Regal, in fact."

Emma fake-coughed the word "Short."

"You're being ridiculous, Emma. You're barely taller than I am."

"Don't care. All I'm hearing is 'I'm taller'. I win."

Emma grinned at the glare she received but her victory seemed short-lived. She grumbled under her breath as she pulled on the fashionable-but-uncomfortable boots formerly worn by Regina. Luckily they did fit but she would probably never admire them again.

"Regina," whined Emma, toeing her newly-shod feet to test them out. "I'm crap at walking in high heels. Can't you just magic some sensible footwear? Or are you trying to be hilarious and suggest that we literally walk a mile in each other's shoes? Because we are more than a mile away from where we're going, you know."

"Now who's being hilarious. 'Where we're going _'_? Is that a euphemism for something?"

"Er, not intentionally. Why, where do you think we're going?" Emma looked at her sideways.

"Literally or figuratively?"

"Argh, Regina! You know what I meant."

Regina looked away for a few seconds before saying quietly. "I think you know where I want to go."

"Please," Emma begged. "I can't read you sometimes. If we're talking about what I think we're talking about... I need to know if we're on the same page with this. I need you to say it."

"I suppose it is fair, since you put yourself out there first - twice." Regina said uncomfortably. "I want this. But Emma, where we're going … that's not somewhere anyone wants to go with me. Because of who I was. Because of who I am."

Emma tilted her head and gave her a soft smile. "Let me decide who I want to go with. Nobody intends to fall for the Evil Queen you know, but that hardly stopped me."

Regina closed her eyes. "I  _am_  trying."

"I know. I do." Emma gave her a sympathetic look and took her hand.

Regina smiled thinly. "You're the only one who does."

"I get it. I grew up being told over and over that I was bad. But nobody thinks they're bad until someone tells them. Look at Ri, she was a good girl who grew up to be a queen and a powerful sorceress. If she hadn't none of this would even exist. They'd be stuck in their medieval hellholes dying of consumption. But they call her Evil now. Maybe you've always been good and nobody ever saw it."

"Yes." Regina smiled wryly. "Feel free to rewrite the book and paint me as an emancipator all you wish."

"Look, you did some fucked up shit. But some of it was nothing more than what Kings before you had done. And taking away the happy endings and cursing everyone to come to this world? Who's to say the alternative wasn't worse? I'm sure they're all thrilled to bits now with their SUVs and cable TV and penicillin and all the modern stuff they've got. Haven't you noticed that the rest of Storybrooke doesn't give a fuck what's happening? Unless there's actually a giant running right for them they're content to let us get on and deal with it by ourselves."

"You sound like Em. You've certainly rediscovered your potty mouth - and your cynicism."

"No, it was always there. Just nobody bothered to get to know me enough to see it come out."

"You think I know you?"

"I think you do. And I understand you. I really do," said Emma, significantly emphasizing the last part. "I get what it's like to have everyone try to tell you who you are. I get what it's like to want a second chance and you just want everyone to see it, but no-one believes you..."

Though Emma was the one with the lie-detector power, Regina knew she was telling the truth. Every argument and fight and squall they'd ever had she'd looked her in the face and fought back on equal ground. The only one who was neither cowed by her threats nor turned away by her damage. She'd known exactly why Emma fought so hard against her, they'd been doing it for the same reason. For Henry.

Neither of them wanted to be alone anymore. They'd walked a mile in each other's shoes and discovered how painful their respective journeys had been.

"So uh, I've been alone my whole life," said Emma, clearly uncomfortable about talking of her past so frankly. "It's easier that way: no-one lets you down, no-one disappoints you, no-one hurts you. When I was Em's age I preferred it that way but I think differently now. Being alone only works right up until the moment it doesn't."

Emma shifted her weight, swaying from one foot to the other with her hands stuffed into her pockets again. "You probably don't want to hear this but Mary Margaret was the first person who was ever there for me. Now that I know what it's like to have a family I can't go back. I don't want to.  _I won't_. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yes," Regina pursed her lips. "Since you asked so nicely, I will refrain from killing your mother."

Emma arched an eyebrow. "Uh huh. Like you said, you're trying. You've had ample opportunity all these years and you still haven't got around to it yet. Is it on the bottom of your To-Do List or something? Right under 'get the gutters cleaned out' or 'try a pilates class'... you know, the stuff that nobody ever gets around to doing?"

"Pilates is definitely after  _'_ kill Snow White'."

Emma smirked at the dark humour. "I have a sneaking suspicion that your heart is going to be occupied by more than mere vengeance in future. You're gonna have better things to do."  _Like me_ , her unfinished tone cheekily implied.

"I suppose everyone has to tolerate a family member who they'd prefer was buried in the woods," Regina deadpanned.

"Hell yeah. We've still got Mr Gold if you're feeling homicidal," offered Emma.

Regina grimaced. "Ugh. Don't remind me."

"What do you think he's up to?"

"Besides entertaining his revised girlfriend? Probably trying to ruin what's left of my life."

Emma snorted. "Not everything's about you, Regina."

"Yes, that treacherous imp is nothing if not self-serving."

"What do you mean?"

Regina tensed her jaw, anger racing through her in an instant to the forefront of her heart. "He used me. I only learned magic so I could bring Daniel back. I was young and grieving and naive. He made me think it was possible. He knew all along it wasn't."

"Er, isn't it though? Didn't Dr Whale-"

"They LIED to me! It wasn't him. It was an abomination and he was in agony - I had to -" Regina broke off with a shudder of pain and closed her eyes.

Emma spoke softly, running her hand down Regina's upper arm. "Hey, I know. David told me what happened. I'm sorry you lost him again."

"I didn't." Regina's eyes flashed. "Because he was never here. Not really."

"You still love him don't you."

Regina jerked a look at her, knowing that if she lied it'd be detected easily but not wanting to compromise their small progress.

"It's alright," said Emma simply. "That's the thing about hearts. Even when they're full there's room for more."

That should have been comforting but Regina still had to force herself not to snap. How could Emma have the gall to be so good and forgiving as to not mind sharing her with someone murdered long ago? A loss so painful it'd led to the destruction of the realm and left her with a suffocating grief and loneliness that never seemed to end. Regina felt it undiminished even after all these years, even after she knew she was developing  _something_  for the woman who stood there right now, giving her a pass on having to give up her first love.

"How can you possibly tolerate that," said Regina sharply. "Even if you can overlook the curse and my other recent mischief."

Emma shrugged almost casually. "I don't want to take anything from you. But at the same time, I wish you weren't in pain anymore. Will you tell me about him sometime?"

Regina felt like the air suddenly rushed out of her lungs. "I - I can't. Not today. Maybe not ever."

They walked on in silence for a few minutes until Emma brushed her fingers against Regina's, testing the waters.

"Regina? Where we're going... one step at a time, ok?"

* * *

Em looked back over her shoulder as she walked, searching Main street with no luck. She could feel her target and knew she was getting closer but it was like the signal was being diluted by white noise. She had to find Ri before the stubborn-yet-naive girl got herself into any trouble. Why would Ri go there of all places?

Too distracted to look where she was going Em ran into someone coming straight at her. "Oof, watch it!"

"Emma?" It was some dude with a hoarse voice saying her name incredulously.

"Sorry, I think you've got the wrong number," said Em fake-cheerily, like he was an annoying marketing phone call. He obviously knew her (the older her) but she had a mission and explaining herself to one of Crankypants's friends was low on the list of priorities.

"Wait!" she heard him call after her and quickened her pace.

The guy jogged to catch up with her so she rolled her eyes and groaned internally.

"Emma, what's going on? You're wearing glasses... you look seventeen again, like when we met-"

"Er, guy, I don't know you. And it's Em, not Emma."

Neal grabbed her arm to bring her to a halt. "You told me you don't like to be called that," he said lightly, but she wasn't in the mood for jokes and she definitely wasn't here to flirt. Not with him at least.

Em glared at him indignantly and pulled her arm free. He did look familiar, she admitted to herself, wondering where she'd seen that lopsided grin before. She stared at him for a beat, with something like recognition buzzing around her head like insects before she shook it away quickly.

"Look dude, I gotta go find my girlfriend. See ya later. Not."

Neal gave her an open-mouthed look of curiosity before his attention was instinctively jerked away by a car backfiring behind him down the street. When he turned back, the sidewalk in front of him was empty and the teenage Emma was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

The ancient black bakelite phone rang shrilly and David picked up the receiver swiftly.

"Sheriff's station."

"David," sighed Mary Margaret gratefully on the line. "You're there."

"Yeah. Miss me already?" David said it as a joke since it'd only been a few hours since lunchtime when they'd been together.

"Is Emma still out? We may need you to come to the school."

"Has something happened?"

Mary Margaret sighed. "You could say that. Some of the children have lost their memories."

David was instantly alarmed and he sat up straight, ready to bolt into action. "What! How?"

"They were on a field trip in the woods to gather moss samples for biology. According to their peers and teachers, it seems that some of the children no longer remember their fairytale identities."

David rubbed a hand over his forehead wearily. "Alright, we'll have to speak to the class, the teachers, whoever was on the trip, and explain it to the parents. If this goes much further we're going to have to go public to warn people to stay away from the outskirts and as close to town as possible until we figure this out."

"It's worse than that, David. If word gets out we could end up with a mass panic on our hands. The border is shrinking away from the town line faster than we thought. Apparently the class didn't go that far into the woods..."

"We have to tell Emma and Regina," said David firmly. "The border may be closer than they think."

* * *

Emma stopped abruptly, breaking both their strides and their silence to face Regina.

"Regina, if you could go back and change things ... would you cast the curse again? Ri seems like she doubts everything, including herself."

"Yes, I'd do it again," Regina confirmed gravely. "Ri will come to understand why. I'm sorry but regretting a past mistake doesn't mean that you'd take it back even if you could. I feel strongly that I had no choice, I always did."

"Why?"

"For Henry. To ensure that he will be born and have this world to live in. A world better than mine. I thought I did it for myself but perhaps I did it for him as well, even though I didn't know it at the time."

Emma nodded, taking it all in. "We don't have much in common besides our son but I think you know what it's like to be alone too."

"Do you really," said Regina evenly.

"Yes. You may have been around people your whole life but they didn't understand you did they? You got parcelled from one life to the next and everyone ignored how you felt. You were sheltered at home by your mother and forced into marriage. Then Gold manipulated you into becoming the Evil Queen for his own ends and finally you were sent to exile. You became exactly what they made you and then they blamed you for it. I think you know exactly what it feels like to be trapped and alone."

Regina swallowed hard to get her voice under control before speaking. "The curse was a prison too, but of my own making. All of us were trapped here but I was the only one who knew it. Until Henry figured it out."

"I'm glad he did. It brought us all together. Living in prison isn't easy but neither is leaving one, even when the door is open. There's a whole world here but you've never once crossed the town line. Instead you stayed here with the people you know. But you feel alone even when you're surrounded don't you?"

Regina fought to contain the rising emotion but could only whisper in a voice made husky by the burning in her throat. "Except when I was with Daniel and now with you."

"That's why you've been staying over at our place huh? Even though you hate my parents, being with us is still better than being alone."

"I stayed to be with you and Henry."

"Hey, we're family," said Emma, smiling. "But this having-a-family thing is pretty new to me and so is having a relationship that isn't automatically gonna fail. I'm probably gonna screw up at some point. You know it's gonna happen. So uh sorry."

Regina sighed over Emma's deprecating herself again. "You're apologising in advance for whatever stupid thing you're probably going to do in future?"

"Maybe."

"Well, try not to break my heart. That never did turn out well, for more than just me," said Regina, making it sound like the dire warning it was.

"Hey, I won't. Promise."

"You were right when you said I couldn't let go, that it makes me dangerous. Emma, if you decide you can't actually do this I won't be strong enough to - I can't just get over it. I can't go through that again."

"That's what you meant this morning wasn't it? Before Henry came in. You think us being together is a huge risk not just for you, but for everyone because you don't trust yourself if you lose someone again."

Regina nodded and pressed her lips together. They were face-to-face now, only inches away. She leaned into Emma's hand as it threaded through her hair and lost herself in a depth of green that seemed more tangible than the verdure in the surrounds.

"We're adults and we can do whatever the hell we want," said Emma softly. "We have a son and we can have us too."

Regina gave a small smile. "I want everything."

They were so close now there was nowhere else for Regina to put her arms so she draped them around Emma's shoulders, letting her wrists cross lightly at the back, almost like they were dancing together. The blonde was at a slight height advantage because of the shoe swap. When Emma spoke again, Regina could feel the breath on her lips and saw the detail in her eyes. The unspoken parts of Emma's words were written there.

"So." Emma slipped an arm around her waist to pull her flush against her. "The other times it didn't go very well. Uh, I kissed you without asking first and you freaked out. This time I want to make sure you're with me...

"Can I kiss you?"

"Please do," Regina whispered. Her eyes dropped in anticipation.

Emma tipped Regina's chin up and paused only millimetres away, checking that she wasn't going to be pushed away and allowing Regina close the final distance herself. As soon as their lips met in a slow and soft kiss both their eyes slipped closed. It started out tentative and exploring, betraying Emma's nervousness, but when Regina responded fully and tightened her arms around her instead of pulling away, it must've given her enough indication that her feelings were returned and her confidence took flight.

Their first kiss had overwhelmed Regina with the kind of intense feelings she thought she'd forgotten long ago. But time and time again only brought to the surface memories of how amazing this feeling was. It was like they were the only two in the world for a few minutes and both the past and the future faded away in the moment. They'd kissed before but this time neither of them was running away.

They didn't notice the border less than a few feet away, creeping steadily upon them unable to be seen.


	24. Hearts and minds

_Sometimes I'm terrified of my heart_

_of its constant hunger for whatever it wants_

_\- Poe, lyrics_

"Why are you and your girlfriend here in Storybrooke?" asked Mr Gold. His tone was conversational but there was a distinct edge to it.

"I'm not sure what you mean," said Ri uncertainly.

Mr Gold swiped his hand in the air and produced a magic wand formerly belonging to a fairy, someone who had no use for it now. He turned the sparkly length this way and that, examining it with interest as though it were an object of precious value or significance.

"You can do magic," Ri realised with a sinking feeling.

"There's no reason to be afraid."

"My mother uses magic," said Ri glumly. "I don't care for it."

"I agree," Gold humoured the naive young version of his 'monster'. He tucked the wand away under the glass counter. "I try to avoid it. If you have to use magic to get what you want then it isn't really yours..."

Ri brightened slightly. "That's just what I think! I'd have to be desperate to resort to such means."

"That is rather unfortunate. You have great power inside you, Regina."

"Really?" gasped Ri, clearly enthralled by the idea.

"Oh yes, your power could rival your mother's. I taught her. I could teach you also."

Ri started to shake her head. "No... No, I don't want to be like her."

"You don't have to be. It's entirely up to you."

Gold could see he was getting through to her, seducing the young girl with the idea that perhaps she wasn't quite so powerless against her mother's control as she thought. She would easily fall under his spell. Just like last time and every other time. It must be a Mills family trait.

"You could use magic to set yourself free," hinted Gold.

"Regina has magic," murmured Ri. "But she used it for something Evil. A dark curse."

Gold pierced her with his sharp gaze. "How do you know it was Evil."

Ri hesitated. "Because that's what everyone says?"

"Power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of its possessor. Magic corrupts all but the purest of hearts. Would the curse still be termed 'dark' if all turns out well in the end? What if it turns out better than before?"

Ri furrowed her brows in confusion. "How can that be? Regina's actions were reprehensible."

"What if a special little person's existence depended entirely on that curse?" Gold's voice became a whisper at the end, like he was revealing a secret.

"Do you mean Henry?" guessed Ri in a tiny voice of wonder. "Emma's son?"

Mr Gold stared at her for a long time with a crooked grin, light glinting off the tooth that was capped with his namesake. His silence confirmed that the boy was exactly who he meant. The jangle of the shop's door bell pierced the air suddenly and broke the spell.

"Don't heed his advice, young Regina! Whatever he tells you will be for his own ends," warned the Blue Fairy.

As the nun strode into the shop, the door seemed to hang open for a second longer than it should have before it swung closed.

Ri glanced at the woman, shrinking under the scrutiny. "It's you again. Why are you following me around?"

"You must not allow him to manipulate you. You have a good heart, now use it."

"Indeed she does," said Gold dryly, before glancing at Ri. "A kind and gentle heart. You know what you love, now go save it."

"At what cost?" posed the Blue Fairy. "The dark curse ruined more than just her."

The young girl looked hopelessly confused, caught between the two as though they were an Angel/Devil pair sitting on her shoulders giving her contradictory advice.

Ri shook her head uncertainly. "But I- he says I must do it for Henry. If that's true ..."

The Blue Fairy pressed her earnestly. "Regina, he does not have Henry's best interests in mind. It is why you are here. You must trust me on this."

"I don't see why I should. Em doesn't trust you and I trust her! Mr Gold has given me no reason to disbelieve what he says."

Blue shot a quelling glare at Gold's triumphant smirk but it was ignored. "Indeed."

Mr Gold leaned on the shop counter, shoulder-to-shoulder with Ri. He spoke to the teen out of the corner of his mouth like they were sharing a private joke. "She's a fairy, you know."

Ri's expression chilled. "Then I certainly don't trust her. That's right, isn't it? Mother says fairy magic is inferior and only causes trouble."

"It does," said Gold, menacingly. "Where was  _she_  when you needed help, hm? Getting her wings glittered?"

"I could not grant your wish, young Regina. It was out of my hands," said Blue quickly.

"I've had many wishes," confessed Ri quietly. "They were all refused."

"I had to. Your patron was killed."

"That's a lie!" cried Ri angrily. "My father said she was reassigned when he lost his title. He was very upset that I would not have the chance to make a wish."

The Blue Fairy shook her head sympathetically. "Your mother killed her for that very reason."

"NO!" said Ri, trembling. "My mother wouldn't do that. You're lying! You've been harassing me for days and now you expect me to believe that my parents lied to me?"

"I'm telling you the truth.  _This man_ ," emphasized the Blue Fairy with a gesture at Gold. "Is the one who made Regina who she is. He sees the future. He wanted you for his own and when your mother chose your father, he had to find another way to corrupt your heart if not by his own blood. That was the 'gift'he bestowed upon you at birth."

"I - I don't understand," stammered Ri. She looked at Gold fearfully now too. "You did something to my heart?"

Gold shrugged casually. He rested his hands on the edge of the glass forming a wide upside-down V with his arms. "Corrupting your heart was never going to be easy. I needed a little insurance. The Terrified Heart."

"Despicable." Blue closed her eyes and shuddered. "A spell inflicting nothing but damage when cast upon an infant. His gift to you was a lifelong prison, young Regina. His _insurance_  was to make sure the Queen's suffering would remain undiminished and drive her to seek vengeance at any cost. She was in constant pain and wanted revenge more than love. It is why you will always carry the overwhelming burden of your grief, regret, and fear. Others may feel similar pains but the intensity fades with time. Yours never will. Your heart can never forget."

Ri seemed frozen to the spot, glancing from one to the other as though she couldn't decide who to trust. Tears started to run down her cheeks and she could've even speak. It seemed plausible: she  _was_  constantly afraid of the world, she  _was_  different from other people, when she felt things she could never seem to let go … and now she finally knew why.

"You  _must_  do as I say, Regina," said Gold around clenched jaws.

"You  _must_   _not_  trust him. Come with me," demanded the Blue Fairy.

"Oookay, that's enough of the mindfuckery," said Em in a hard voice. "If either of you speak to her like that again I will end you. Don't make the mistake of thinking I can't."

In the blink of an eye, the blonde teen visibly appeared where she had been the whole time, standing right next to Ri like a guardian.

The Blue Fairy looked surprised at young Emma's apparent use of magic. "How did you-"

Em grinned with a flinty gleam in her eye. "I'm like Houdini, yeah?"

"Nice to see you again, young lady," said Gold smoothly. "I do hope you're not here to destroy my shop this time?"

"Nice scarf, creep," snickered Em, eying the dirty-looking sheepskin around his neck. "Let's go, Ri. We're leaving."

Too quick to be noticed, Em slipped something sparkly down her jeans and grabbed Ri's hand on the way out.

* * *

Regina had her hands threaded through long blonde hair when they broke the kiss breathing hard. Her eyes were still closed and Emma pressed their foreheads together. They were so wrapped up in each other they didn't notice anything in the surrounding woods.

"Wow," Emma panted before laughing quietly.

Regina smiled widely and stole another kiss. "You think so?"

"Mm hm." Emma couldn't keep her grin under control. "How's your heart. Not freaking out this time?"

"I think it's training to be an Olympic gymnast," admitted Regina.

Emma groaned. "Hot. I hope you are that flexible. Are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Oh, hell yes."

"Maybe you'll find out," Regina teased and started kissing Emma's neck.

The blonde leaned into it and her eyes slipped closed again. "I'd better. Now?"

"In the woods?"

"No, not here. Bed?" gasped Emma.

"Wall," murmured Regina.

"Uh uh. Bench?"

"Floor."

"Floor?! Too cold."

"Your desk at the Sheriff's station."

Emma's eyebrows shot up. "Seriously?"

Regina snickered at the mock-scandalised look on Emma's face. But the tables were turned on her, the blonde snaked an arm through her jacket to hold her and then drew kisses across under her jaw.

"Of course we can't agree on anything," said Regina.

"Only one solution," Emma whispered near her ear. "Try them all."

Regina's attention was jerked away suddenly and she stilled, trying to determine what it was she could sense. She patted the blonde head. "Emma, wait-"

Emma mock-whined. "Oh not again, is this the part where you-"

"Emma, get back!" Regina cried out and in one swift move pushed her away magically. Emma felt herself lift off the ground and sailed ten feet through the air and fell to the ground to land on her ass.

Emma groaned and tried to get up. She brushed the gravel off her hands and stood stiffly. She eyed Regina who was facing away from town holding her palm in the air and concentrating hard on the empty space before her.

"Ow. What the hell, Regina? This is the worst rejection yet! You gotta learn to let me down gently." Emma groused. "At least I'm not on fire I suppose."

"The border is right in front of me," Regina warned. "Don't come any closer."

"What?!"

The place where invisible border met the ground began to glow with a bright yellow light that sped off in both directions into the woods, marking the line where magic and memories were lost.

The fluorescent yellow line was still moving towards Regina as the magic flowed from her hand. It looked like the border was disintegrating or being continuously eroded and the yellow line appeared to waver and flicker like noise in an electronic signal.

"Oh god, the border's moving faster than we thought," said Emma worriedly.

"Nearly finished," muttered Regina.

Just as she completed the spell the border met her outstretched palm and branches shot out of the woods as if from nowhere to wrap around her middle and snatch her into the air.

Emma gaped in open-mouthed horror at the sight as Regina was held aloft for a few seconds and then dropped to the ground from that height. As the branches retracted into the woods, she ran over to where the slight form had fallen to the road and lay perfectly still.

" _Regina!_ "

* * *

Em held Ri's hand, walking the crying girl away from the stupid pawn shop leaving the adults inside. The jury was still out on who was malevolent and who was benign - or perhaps the categories weren't exclusive and everyone was merely working their own agendas. Of all the places the poor girl could've gone for help, she'd ended up in the worst of them. Unbelievable.

They reached the little park that was off Main Street and Em pulled Ri over to sit her down at one of the picnic tables. Em knelt in front of her and held both of her hands in her own.

"Em, h-how," Ri sobbed. "You were there the w-whole time?"

Em smiled weakly. "I can find anyone I'm looking for. Always. I knew you were in trouble."

"I didn't n-need you," said Ri, stubbornly. "I w-was fine."

"The fuck you were!" cried Em. "Trust you to get chatted up by psychopaths, just like I said would happen. They were messing with your head. Why didn't you just leave, Ri? I could see you were getting upset and I kept waiting for you to do something and stand up for yourself. Why didn't you just tell them to get fucked?"

"I don't know." Ri sniffed wetly and swiped her cheeks impatiently. "Stop using that awful word. Mother says it's for uneducated commoners."

"Of course she does," muttered Em. "What about what  _you_  think Ri?"

Ri gulped worriedly. "I don't think that about you! Mother believes things like that, I know better."

"Then don't let your mother or anyone else overrule your thoughts. I don't care what those jerks said. You have your own mind and your own heart. Don't be afraid. You  _know_ what's right."

Ri nodded slowly, with her eyes on the ground, thinking of a little boy with his mother's eyes. Mr Gold had implied that Henry's existence was dependent on her casting the dark curse. After taking so much away from Em, separating her from her parents for decades, how could she even think of taking her son away from her too? She loved them both. The thought that Henry might never even exist alarmed her. She couldn't risk it. That was a good enough reason for her.

She had no choice.

"Thanks, Em," said Ri, in a small voice.

"Anytime," promised Em. "I will  _never_  leave you when you need saving. No matter how mad we are at each other."

Another tear rolled down Ri's cheek.

Em sighed and rose to sit next to her on the bench. She stroked Ri's cheek gently to smooth the wet trail and turned her face so that the teary brunette had to look up.

"You're gorgeous even when you're a crying mess, princess," said Em gently. She tucked a few locks of long brown hair back behind Ri's ear.

"You never told me when we met."

"Told you what?"

Ri lowered her face shyly. "Said anything about my looks. That's usually the first thing people say to me."

Ri's eyes dropped to the other girl's lips and she felt her place the pads of her fingertips above her heart. Em leaned in and pressed a soft kiss, so quickly it felt like it was over before it started.

"This is why I love you." Em kissed her forehead next. "And here."

Ri struggled for a reply, surprised by the kiss and kind words after they'd barely spoken for days without snapping at each other. But her heart's true sentiments were stuck in her throat and she was afraid of their reception. Several times she went to speak up but couldn't get it out.

Em got up and paced a few steps with her hands stuffed into her the pockets of her hoodie.

"Em? Are you-" Ri took a deep breath. "Are you ready to hear me say it?"

"Don't, Ri," pleaded Em, half turned away from her. "Please. Just - don't."

"Why?" begged Ri.

"It'll break my heart to break yours. I can't do it to you. Maybe I already have. Being with a bratty streetkid like me is a far cry from what you deserve."

Ri jumped up and grabbed Em's arm, forcing her around to face her. "Please, Em! I don't care what I deserve. All I care about is you."

"I should've known this would happen. Emma did. She knew it was just a matter of time before I broke your heart, Ri. I bet it happened with them too. It must be why they're not together."

"But what about us," said Ri hopefully. "We can be together."

"I think maybe we're running out of time. It's too late."

Ri cradled Em's face with her palm and locked their eyes. "No, Em! There could be one minute left and I'd still want to spend it with you."

Em looked away quickly and stared at the ground in steadfast concentration. "Ri, do you want kids some day?"

"Um, yes-" Ri was perplexed by the sudden topic change.

Em nodded to herself. "We can't be together. I want all of your wishes to come true. There's no happy endings for people like me. Yours is not with me."

Ri flinched like she'd been struck. "Is that - is that what you really believe, Em?"

"I want better for you."

"If you loved me you wouldn't want to keep us apart," Ri murmured. "Would you?"

Em blinked away sudden tears and scuffed her Cons on the ground. "We have to go. It's nearly 4.30. We gotta pick up the little nerdburger from the schoolbus."

"Em, be nice," Ri pleaded. "He's only a child and he just wants you to like him."

Em grumbled half-heartedly. Ri never seemed to stand up to anyone but her, as if she was the only one she wasn't afraid of. "I'm glad you're growing up, Ri. Even if you are cutting your claws on me."

Ri sniffed sadly and crinkled her brow into a fond smile. "It's 'cutting your teeth'. Not claws."

Em mock-whined. "Aw, you're gonna come at me with teeth AND claws? Who knew Ri was hiding a badass inside her. That's actually kinda hot."

Ri's gaze snapped up as the girl she loved started to walk away. She  _knew_  Em still loved her. She  _knew_  Em still wanted her. Yet the other girl was keeping them apart for some reason. There was something holding them back. She jogged a few steps to catch up and the two teenagers headed for Main street to meet Henry.

* * *

Regina felt something irritating patting her face and began to rouse. "Stop that."

"Wake up, please!"

"Uhhh. Yes, Henry, you can have chocolate for breakfast. Cupboard above the fridge," she groaned tiredly. "Mommy's not feeling well."

"Re- gi- na!" Something was shaking her shoulder and calling her name repeatedly.

She opened her eyes blearily to see a familiar irritant, staring at her with a panicky expression. "Emma, what-?"

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Emma held up two.

"Twelve-and-a-half. I'm not concussed."

Emma growled. "You're something! Are you sure you didn't hit your head? Who am I?"

"Emma Swan. Sheriff of Storybrooke, mother of my son, bane of my existence."

"Ok good. You're definitely still you. But do you remember everything?"

"How would I know if I had forgotten anything?" Regina pointed out. "I certainly remember you breaking my curse. I remember you disappearing into a portal and then climbing out of a well. I remember you accusing me of murder with the same mouth you just kissed me with."

Emma's relief was obvious and she exhaled. "Ok. You still have your memories. But what the hell was that?"

Regina raised herself on her hands with difficulty to sit on the ground and Emma was still hovering over her. The world spun for a few seconds until her vision cleared.

"The border. It's a barrier spell, like Mother used to use. She cast one around the estate before I was married to stop me from running away."

"Geezus," said Emma, shaking her head incredulously.

"Something bad happens when someone tries to leave Storybrooke," said Regina. "I can't leave either."

Emma looked her over for injuries and swore when she noticed. "Your nose is bleeding."

"It's fine."

Emma stretched her sleeve over her gloved hand and pressed it to Regina's face to soak up the trickle of blood for a few minutes. She cupped her other hand under the brunette's hair and massaged the back of her neck gently.

"It's not as bad as last time," said Emma. "Hope this isn't gonna happen too often - you bleeding all over me. I totally thought you were gonna incinerate me on the spot that day last year and that was before I knew you could. That was not long after our first kiss. Do you remember?"

Regina's voice was slightly muffled but wry. "I could hardly forget it. That was the day I realised I cared about you. It hit me right in the face."

"I wish you'd said something. Things might've been different."

Regina nodded slightly and breathed through her mouth, since Emma was still holding the bridge of her nose tightly. Maybe things  _would_  have been different if Emma had known. Perhaps they could've worked together to break the curse, without anyone getting hurt, without risking Henry. Without him they wouldn't have even met. They wouldn't be what they were now... whatever that actually was.

"I noticed you trying to look down my shirt that day," said Regina a little nasally. "That's why I wore it."

Emma rolled her eyes lightly and teased her back. "Well, I caught you checking out my ass when I was crawling up the ladder to get the damn frisbee off the roof."

"Only then? You aren't very observant. I have appreciated your form many times."

"You have?" said Emma incredulously.

"Yes." The twinkle in Regina's eyes were the only evidence of her smile since it was covered by Emma's sleeve. "How else would I have noticed your appreciation of mine? Subtlety is not your strong suit, dear."

"Me?" Emma scoffed a laugh. "Regina,  _you_  are the Queen of Not Subtle. You gatecrashed my parents' wedding to announce that you were gonna curse them all forever. Always gotta steal the show don't you?"

"Oh please, you should've seen the tantrum your mother threw on  _my_  wedding day. It was payback," Regina's voice was still nasal. Seeing Emma about to ask she followed quickly with, "Don't bother asking, I'm not telling you. Nobody puts the baby princess in the corner apparently. Not even me."

They both shared a smile and then fell into silence. They stared at the flickering yellow line ten feet away. It was still creeping steadily towards them - towards the center of town. The bubble that encased the town and preserved it's magic was shrinking.

Emma scrunched her face, grasping for the silver lining in the situation. "At least we can see the border now I guess. We know where it is and how fast it's moving. But we're miles from the town line. It must be moving faster than we thought."

"It's not moving constantly either," said Regina grimly, covering Emma's hand with her own. "It jumped towards me."

"What?" said Emma sharply.

"The border thinks I was trying to leave - or interfere with it."

Emma stared at her in alarm. "What do you mean 'the border  _thinks_ '?"

"Magic is imbued with the intentions of its possessor. You've heard the expression 'the floodgates have opened'? Once magic has been cast it can act with sentience, as though it had a mind of it's own."

Emma removed their hands from the injury and saw that the blood had stopped flowing. She sat back on her heels and sighed.

"Isn't it  _your_  magic, Regina? Why is it attacking you?"

"I think it was trying to protect me."

Emma gaped. "How is tossing you like a ragdoll protecting you?"

"It's not just my magic. There's someone else's here too, I can sense it. There's noise in the signal."

"Who's magic?"

"I don't know."

Emma shot her a look, listening carefully. "Are you sure."

"It must be -" Regina broke off suddenly and finished it in her mind,  _Someone who loves me._

Emma jumped up and dusted herself off with a determined look on her face.

"Emma! What are you doing?" Regina rose to her feet with effort and grabbed at the blonde's elbow before she could go any further.

"I have magic too. I got this."

"NO!" Regina pulled her back forcefully and stared her down. "Don't try to interfere with the border. I forbid you to use magic."

"That's rich, coming from you! Didn't you just use magic on the border and every other time to get something you want?"

"Emma, listen to me," growled Regina fiercely. "The border thinks it's protecting me, what do you suppose will happen if it thinks you're trying to attack it? It's going to attack YOU. Don't resort to magic, we can figure this out another way."

Emma tried to shrug it off. "Gold taught me a protection spell."

"No, Emma!" Regina cried, pulling at her arm again. "Don't use magic, especially anything he taught you. Do you think I want to see it happen to you too?"

"You're afraid that magic will corrupt me," murmured Emma, realising what she meant. "You're afraid for my heart?"

Regina covered her face with her hand since it was already feeling stuffy and sore. "Magic corrupts all but the purest of hearts. You can't risk it. Henry needs one of us to be good. Magic always comes with a price and I don't want him to pay ours."

Emma pulled the hand away and cupped it between her own, pressing a kiss to the knuckles.

"I have an idea... but first, let's get you home."


	25. Thankyou

Granny Lucas peered through the kitchen window to where her granddaughter and Mary Margaret were gossiping earnestly in the diner. That girl! Slacking off again and the dinner rush was beginning soon too. Granny shook her head out of long-suffering annoyance and headed over to the whispering pair.

"-in bed together," said Mary Margaret, wide-eyed.

"Are you shitting me?" said Ruby, leaning in closer. "I knew it! Caught her checking her out in the diner once. I bet they are so hot together."

"You can't tell anyone else, please Ruby. I don't know how to-"

"Hey, I just realised. Emma once told me she-"

"Ruby! Customers," hinted Granny, interrupting the gossipy tete-a-tete.

Ruby jumped defensively. "What? I was just taking Mary Margaret's order."

"For fifteen minutes?" said Granny pointedly, with a chastising look at the pixie-haired brunette for distracting her waitress friend.

"Um, I - I was just deciding," stuttered Mary Margaret, "what to get - um, for dinner."

"Sure you were." Granny rolled her eyes. She was neither convinced nor amused. Just like when they were girls, trying to pull the wool over her eyes. A foolish thing to attempt with a former werewolf.

The door to the diner swung open and David came in. He slid onto the stool next to Mary Margaret and shucked off his jacket.

"Did she ask you yet?" David said to Granny.

"Ask me what?" said Granny suspiciously, flinging a tea towel over her shoulder like it was the strap of her crossbow.

"Mar?"

Mary Margaret said exasperatedly. "I was just going to."

David raised his eyebrows at Granny and Ruby. "Mary Margaret has the crazy idea that we should ask Regina to be Mayor again."

"It isn't crazy," muttered Mary Margaret.

"She wants to give the Evil Queen the keys to the city."

"No, not really!" said Mary Margaret earnestly. "Well, maybe just the garage door opener."

Ruby snorted. "Mary, is this like the time you said we should adopt a wolf cub to see if it would treat me as its mother? Cos that was  _not_  a good idea. Or how bout the time when we-"

"Ruby!" hissed Mary Margaret.

"What has this insanity got to do with me," said Granny dryly.

Mary Margaret explained her idea and repeated, "We need you to ask Regina."

David frowned and crossed his arms. "You still haven't told me why Regina is going to be convinced by Granny of all people. Why not get Henry to ask her? Or Emma maybe."

"Regina's ruled by her emotions," said Mary Margaret in a strained voice, looking down at the counter. She traced a circle in some spilled salt before raising haunted eyes. "She's like Ri. Haven't you noticed that she'll follow suggestions from someone she thinks has power over her?"

"You mean-"

"People in authority over her or people she cares about. Cora, Mr Gold, Henry, Emma... " Mary Margaret nodded somberly. "Even me."

"If that's true and even if it works..." David sighed and looked at the ceiling. "Mar, she's gonna be pissed that you manipulated her. Even if your intentions are good."

"Even if all I want is to help her get her life back?"  _A life that now included her daughter apparently._ Mary Margaret posed the question but none of the others had a satisfactory answer.

After a while she spoke again quietly. "You're right. I can't do that to her again. I'll just ask her and hope she doesn't kill me."

Ruby glanced from her friend to her grandmother. "Wait. Why would Regina think Granny has any authority over her?"

"I was her nurse," answered Granny, surprised that none of the others except Mary Margaret knew about it.

David's jaw dropped. "You're kidding?"

Granny looked fondly at Ruby over her spectacles. "It was when your mother was about seventeen and just starting to change. I commissioned Cora to make the red riding cloak. I couldn't pay her so she took me on at the estate for a few years to repay the debt. This was before you were born of course."

Ruby was incredulous. "You told me you used to be a nurse. You looked after  _Baby Regina_?"

Granny smiled, pleased at having the rapt attention of the young ones. "Yes, I certainly did. Princess Regina was a fretful baby, she cried constantly and never wanted to be left alone. I think I held her for three months straight. Cora didn't want much to do with the poor little thing... except to dictate her schedule down to the very minute that is."

"What happened," asked Mary Margaret, having never heard the complete story before.

Granny's eyes unfocused, as she thought far back into the past. "Regina was about three when Prince Henry was stripped of his royal title. None of us in the servants hall could figure out how a harsh woman like Cora could have given birth to such a sweet little girl. One day, the child told me something and Cora overheard. She flew into a rage and dismissed me and half of the servants from the estate that very day. The next time I heard anything of Regina her marriage to the King was being announced."

"What did Baby Regina tell you," asked Ruby.

Granny took the tea towel and swiped it across the counter absent-mindedly. "One way or another, Cora wanted complete control of that child - both her mind and her heart. Regina was only a little girl then. I doubt she even remembers me now."

* * *

"Emma, don't think I've forgotten your proclivity for stealing my shirts!" Regina called from the bathroom.

Emma pulled her blood-stained shirt over her head. She scrunched it in a ball and dropped it at her feet. She was weary from the long walk back to the car and then having to drive all the way back into town. Regina had insisted on replacing her dirt-smeared clothes the second they'd arrived back at the mansion and she was still changing in the bathroom. Probably also fussing over whether her face was starting to bruise.

"That wasn't me! It was Henry." Emma called back.

"I blame you for encouraging that behaviour."

"Oh, that's so not fair!" Emma scoffed. She sloped over to the bathroom door that connected to Regina's bedroom and called through the solid wood. "Hey, can I borrow something to -"

The door swung open to reveal Regina, freshly dressed.

"-wear." Emma adopted an innocent poker face since she was standing there in nothing but her black bra and dark skinnyjeans, revealing an expanse of fair skin and toned midriff.

Regina determinedly kept her gaze at eye level with impressive control but this time she had no basket of apples to obscure her view. "Do you make it a habit of standing in doorways half-naked? Or is just me."

"It's just you." Emma hid a grin.

"Yes, you may borrow something to put on. Besides that smirk of course."

Emma didn't blink or break their staring contest. "Sure you want me to cover up? You haven't snuck a peek yet."

Regina arched an eyebrow, meeting the challenge.

"Or perhaps you just want something of yours wrapped around my chest?" Emma teased. "You still curious about the nipple ring?"

The brunette's gaze faltered before she could stop it and her eyes darted downward for a mere fraction of a second. She hooked her index fingers in the belt loops of Emma's jeans and pulled her in so she could capture her lips in a slow kiss.

Emma smiled when she pulled away. "I like it when you kiss me first. Less chance of -"

"Do you really have one?" Regina kissed her again quickly.

"Maybe you'll find out," teased Emma.

"I expect I will."

Regina lowered her head and grazed the knuckles of her hand under Emma's bellybutton and let her palm rest flat on the warm skin. A soft smile broke over her face.

"What?" said Emma, wondering what was so fascinating.

"Henry."

Emma looked down at her now-flat stomach as well and chuckled, almost like she was embarrassed. "Oh, right. Yeah."

Regina's voice was barely audible. "What was it like."

"Well, uh, I was pretty young. Scared out of my mind. Didn't know what to do," Emma shrugged and recounted it tonelessly. "I was in jail. I couldn't stand to be near the kitchen cos the smells used to make me throw up - meat, chicken, coffee, the warden's perfume. All I wanted to eat was greens, nothing but greens. Towards the end the kid's feet were stuck right up under my ribs and it hurt like hell. I used to put ice-cubes near his feet so he'd shift a bit. Last few weeks were really uncomfortable. I don't really remember the birth pain all that much, I forgot everything once he was out."

Emma wrapped her hands around Regina's wrists where they now rested on either side of her denim-clad hips and ran them up her forearms. She could see the brunette's dark eyes were begging her for more details.

"I had him with me for two weeks. His eyes were still blue and he had lighter hair. I used to call him 'kid' cos," Emma's voice hitched raggedly. "Because I didn't want to get too attached and I - "

Regina brushed her fingers back across Emma's waist out of concern and brought her closer.

"I was afraid I'd change my mind. I wanted him to have a better life than me. When he turned up in Boston last year, I had a panic attack in the bathroom. But now... I can't imagine my life without him." Emma finished the last part with a teary laugh.

Regina cupped her face under her chin and kissed her lovingly, hoping that Emma could feel all of her past regrets and future desires. She'd taken the chance for a good childhood away from Emma, it was only fitting that she'd given one to Emma's son. The woman in her arms had brought a child into the world and entrusted him to her.

"I'm sorry," Regina breathed. She explained when Emma looked at her questioningly. "I didn't spare a thought for you the day I got him. One minute I was alone, the next minute I was a mother and all I could think of was my baby. It felt like he was mine from the moment I held him in my arms."

Emma nodded slowly with the beginnings of a smile. "I don't regret it anymore. It tore my heart apart to give him up but I'm glad he got you. When Henry brought me here I couldn't believe how lucky I'd gotten. That my kid ended up with everything I never had. When I used to disappear for a whole day nobody even noticed. And here was my kid - healthy, smart, beautiful - with a strict hardass of a Mom who missed him after only a few hours and cared enough to worry about candy and tv and homework."

"Hardass?" Regina arched an eyebrow.

"Yep. Also, great legs." Emma slid her arms around Regina's waist.

"We each did it alone. Now I think it'd be even better if we did it together. Thankyou. For making me a mother."

_Oh, that was so... sweet._ She wasn't always demonstrative but Regina felt things deeply and when she did show it it was amazing. Emma pulled her into a hug, meeting no resistance for once.

"Anytime," Emma joked. "And by that I mean 'never again'. Kid had a big head."

* * *

"Hi Ri!" Henry shouted happily as he alighted from the schoolbus. He ran over to the teens who were waiting in Main street where the bus dropped the schoolchildren off.

"Henry," cried Ri, as he launched himself around her middle in a hug. "Did you have a good day? What did you do at school?"

Henry shrugged and hiked his backpack over his shoulder. "Nothing."

"I'm sure you did something," teased Ri, stroking the boy's hair back off his forehead.

"Ok, do you wanna see? Let's go to the diner and get hot chocolate."

Ri and Henry went to go and paused to look back at Em, who hadn't followed and was yet to say anything. The blonde teen was avoiding eye contact and had her hands shoved in her hoodie pocket again.

"Aren't you coming, Em," asked Ri quietly.

"No uh - you guys go." Em scraped one of her Cons in an arc on the concrete. "You two should um, spend some time together."

"Yes, but-" Ri smiled hesitantly. "It'd be lovely if the three of us were together."

"Pleeeease, Em, come with us?" said Henry hopefully, in that unignorable way that children have when asking for what they want and getting it.

Em sighed. "Alright. Just for a little while."

In the short walk to the diner, Henry managed to pull everything out of his backpack to show Ri. He explained what he was learning in his subjects at school, showed her his finished birdhouse, presented a certificate he'd been awarded that day, and shoved a bunch of comics under her nose excitedly telling her his favourite parts in a rather jumbled way.

Em trailed the pair wordlessly, listening to the bittersweet tones of mother and son sharing their day together. Ri was delighted by every stupid little thing that Henry said and she hung on his every word like he was the most precious person in the world to her.

_She'll make a great Mom one day..._

"- can you help me, Em?" Ri's voice snapped her out of it.

"Huh?"

Ri held out a handful of bills. "Mary Margaret gave me these bartering notes but they all look the same to me. I have to exchange these for Henry's drink, is that right?"

"You won't need more than this." Em pulled a ten from the stack and at the same time surreptitiously palmed another of the notes up her sleeve.

"Lucky you're here. What would I do without you?" said Ri.

The bell rang as the trio entered the diner, attracting the attention of Mary Margaret and David who waved them over to the booth where they sat.

"Hey, you three," greeted Mary Margaret. "I thought we could have an early dinner out tonight."

David reached out to ruffle Henry's hair as he slid into the booth. "How was school, buddy?"

Henry started chattering to David about swordfighting and Ri was asking Mary Margaret if she remembered hearing about a particular Royal scandal that was hushed up many years ago. After a while one of the waitresses came to hand out menus and then disappeared.

Ri looked her menu over and pouted. "I don't know what to choose. How do you decide when there's so many things?"

"It's ok, honey," Mary Margaret said fondly. "We'll order for you, something that Regina would get."

"Extra fries. Apple pie for dessert," said Henry.

Mary Margaret raised her eyebrows at him. "You know full well she wouldn't order that."

David agreed. "I doubt Regina would ever willingly eat apples that didn't come from her own tree."

It was Henry's turn to be smug as he informed them. "She gets the extra fries for me and Granny's apple pie IS made from her apples. She always takes a whole basket of them to the Bed & Breakfast every month."

Ri nodded enthusiastically. "My apples are the best. I'd never want any other kind. I know Regina still has my tree."

"Where did you get it, Ri?" asked Henry, since his mother would never tell him.

Ri smiled. "I've had it since I was a little girl. One of the servants at the estate gave it to me and it wasn't even as tall as I was then."

"Which servant." Mary Margaret tilted her head, getting in on Henry's fishing expedition.

"One of my nurses. I had so many. Mother was too busy with estate matters and I wasn't an easy baby to take care of," said Ri sheepishly, as if it were her fault. "Mother said they were all incompetent. She sent them away one at a time until I was too old to need one."

Em muttered. "I hate it when people call babies 'good' because they don't cry much. Crying doesn't make them bad."

Ri bit her lips, wondering if she'd said the wrong thing. She joked weakly, "Mother says I became a bit of a terror when I turned three. Must've grown out of it."

"What does your father say," said Em pointedly.

"Um, nothing like that," said Ri, like she hadn't realised before. "He calls me Daddy's Little Girl. He doesn't ride anymore himself but he likes to come with me when I practice jumps with Rocinante. He told me he's looking for someone my age to go riding with me, so that I have someone to talk to. But I'm not lonely, not really! I'm so lucky to have Mother and Father... I just wish I could see them more."

Em gave her a small smile. "That's what lonely means, Ri."

Thankfully the conversation turned to much lighter topics after that. But before the meals even arrived, Em got up almost unnoticed by the others and headed for the bathroom. She had her hand on the door handle of the back exit when a voice stopped her.

"Are you ok, Em?" called Mary Margaret from behind her.

"Yeah," Em kept her eyes down. "I just need to get away."

Mary Margaret hid a sigh and started rummaging in her handbag. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered to pulled out her phone, apartment key, and some money and placed the bundle in Em's hands.

Em frowned in shock. "What are you doing?"

The pixie-haired brunette smiled sadly at her daughter. "Come back to us when you're ready."

"You're not gonna stop me?" said Em incredulously.

"I know it wouldn't do any good. I just want you to be safe.  _Please call_  if you need help. I mean it, Em. We love you."

Mary Margaret watched Em hesitate before leaving and disappointment sunk into her stomach. She had hoped that her gesture would give the teen a reason to stay. There was clearly something upsetting Em and it pained her that her daughter still didn't think to talk to her or ask for help. It seemed like Em and Ri were talking again instead of ignoring each other, but there was still something holding them back from making up properly. She was not looking forward to explaining Em's absence to any of the others.

Em didn't come home that night and Mary Margaret didn't sleep a wink for worrying over it.


	26. Yours and mine

* * *

_"The greatest challenge is to find someone who knows all your flaws, differences, and mistakes, and yet still sees the best in you."_

* * *

_108 Mifflin St_

Emma frowned and ended the call on her phone after a long conversation with her deputy. This was not a good start to the day.

"That was David. He's meeting me at the school to go interview the kids in an hour."

Regina laid her elbows on the kitchen bench and leaned over opposite her. "The children who accidentally crossed the border and lost their memories?"

"Yeah," Emma sighed. "And their parents. Gonna be a nightmare. Apparently one of the kids used to be Georgie Porgie so that's a small mercy I spose."

Emma recounted the other piece of unfortunate news. "He also said that Em ran away last night during dinner. Mary Margaret caught her but she let her go."

"How could your mother do that?" Regina said worriedly. "She's been missing since last night? We have to find her."

Emma held up her hand pacifyingly. "No, it's ok. She'll be fine, trust me."

"We can't just let her sleep on the streets alone, she's a child-"

"Em likes having space to herself. She's not used to all this family stuff. Don't worry, she'll be back."

"I hope you know yourself that well. What if she tries to leave Storybrooke? She headed for the border the first day they appeared."

Emma shook her head confidently. "She won't. There's no way she'll leave Ri."

"The girls are still fighting though," murmured Regina.

Emma looked down at her hands resting on the bench and splayed her fingers, tapping them one at a time. "Hope they don't take as long to make up as we did. Unless... hey, do you think we monopolised the universe's supply of Emma-and-Regina happiness? Maybe we stole it from them."

"You said something like that before," Regina narrowed her gaze curiously. "What do you mean by it?"

"It's almost like the more it improves for us, the worse it's going for them. They hit it off originally and we didn't. Now we're together and they're acting like we did last year. It's like we're getting more like them and they're getting more like us." Emma shrugged, unable to articulate her thoughts properly. "I dunno. Nevermind."

"What did your parents say when you told them about the border shrinking faster?"

"Basically the gist of it was 'oh crap'." Emma chuckled half-heartedly. "I'm starting to think you fairytale characters don't know what the hell you're doing half the time. That part is curiously absent from the stories."

"I knew perfectly well what I was doing," said Regina, offended by the slight.

"How long do you think we have," asked Emma, as if asking a doctor for the prognosis of a terminal illness. "Before the border reaches the town?"

"Given that it may not be moving constantly, it could be weeks or perhaps mere days."

"Until the magic disappears along with the memories," mused Emma.

"I suppose so. Unless we find some way to stop this happening."

"I've got an idea," said Emma. "We let the border shrink."

Regina assumed she wasn't serious. "What? You're joking surely."

"No. I'm not." Emma got up and went around to stand close to Regina so she could look her right in the eyes. "This is your second chance. You'll get to start over. Without magic, without anyone knowing you were the Evil Queen, without your past hanging over your head like a guillotine. When people stop treating you badly you won't feel the need to retaliate. I think we should let this happen."

"Emma, are you out of your mind!" Regina stared at her incredulously. "Your parents will forget who they are. They won't remember that they're each other's true love. That was the whole point of breaking my curse wasn't it?"

"They got together last year even though they didn't know. Your curse didn't stop them before,  _you_  stopped them with your crazy frame-my-mother-for-a-murder-that-didn't-happen scheme. Not remembering their other identities didn't stop them from falling in love all over again. They'll be fine. As for the rest of Storybrooke, who cares if Bob the Beanfarmer forgets his fairytale identity."

"This is a test isn't it?" Regina demanded angrily. She brushed the hand off her arm and stepped back. "I despise you right now, Emma, for offering this to me. Are you making this proposal to test whether I've really changed? If I accept it, then I'm still evil and out to destroy the precious love story of Snow White and Prince Charming. If I reject it, then I'm redeemed. Is that what you want to know?"

Emma lowered her head shamefully and whispered. "No. I just want you to be happy."

"Don't tempt me," pleaded Regina. "This is what Evil knows that Good doesn't - the appeal of what appears to be the easy fix. Stepping foot on the slippery slope doesn't lead anywhere but down. Henry told us that as indiscernible as it appears to be right now, there will be a solution. We must trust him. He believes in us. He would hate me for agreeing to this and seizing my happy ending at the expense of destroying everyone else's. You would both come to resent me for it."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. I know you've changed, please believe me."

Regina sighed. "I know you want us to be happy, Emma, but for once in my life let me achieve it the right way. If we get our happy ending I want to actually  _deserve_  it."

It may not have been intended as a test but Regina certainly passed with flying colours. Emma launched herself against her in a hug, causing Regina to gasp when she nearly fell off balance.

"You do deserve it. I love you," Emma blurted out.

"I love you too."

Emma's face started to crumple with emotion. She hadn't had time to regret what she'd accidentally confessed because the reply had been immediately given, something that'd rarely happened to her before without leading to heartbreak. Was this really happening? They'd agreed to share Henry and that had been enough to give her hope... now they were starting a relationship in the best way possible. With Regina's arms wrapped tightly around her, she suddenly felt like they'd be able to face whatever was going on and win.

"Thought you said five seconds ago that you despised me?" teased Emma, happily pressing a kiss into silky dark hair.

Regina replied in kind, a beautiful smile transforming her face. "I love you much more than I ever hated you, dear. And that's saying something."

* * *

It took every minute of the hour for Emma to drag herself away from Regina after their exchange and the makeout session that followed. Eventually Regina resorted to pushing her out the door, promising that it was only for a few hours and they'd see each other again after the Sheriff finished her shift. Just when Emma had finally agreed, Regina whispered something suggestive in her ear, deliberately undoing all her good work.

Emma glared petulantly and promised to make good on it.

"I'm counting on it," drawled Regina. "Enjoy your day."

Despite winning the upper hand that morning, Regina was the one who broke first and turned up at the Sheriff's station that afternoon under the guise of "supervising the Sheriff" since nobody was performing that role anymore.

Later that day, Emma scrunched up another ruined bit of paperwork into a ball and tossed it behind her. "Regina. Would you quit distracting me so that I can finish this? I'm trying to be good here."

Regina was sitting on the Sheriff's desk with her legs crossed elegantly, causing her tight pencil skirt to hike to mid-thigh in Emma's full view. No wonder that the Sheriff could hardly get anything done, judging by the number of sneaking glances she'd been stealing and the grin she couldn't keep off her face.

"And stop giving me that look," said Emma.

"What look, dear?" said Regina innocently.

"You know exactly what you're doing."

"I'm just sitting here, waiting for you. What am I doing?"

Emma's voice was deep in her chest. "Being aggravating and sexy as hell at the same time. In other words, existing."

Brown met green in what became a heated staring contest of the kind they'd often had last year when clashing over a difference of opinion, each fiercely maintaining her ground. Neither was willing to back down as ever, but the stares were laced with the opposite of malice now.

Last year Emma had blown into town and straight away got into Regina's face, challenging her every move like the smartass she was. Regina realised now that she'd actually enjoyed their arguments and especially delighted in the effect she seemed to have on Emma. The Sheriff certainly kept her on her toes, pushed her patience to the limit, and thrilled her with an intensity she hadn't felt before.

Not that any of that made Regina reconsider her moves. She played to win. Flustering the Sheriff was a favourite tactic.

"I'm sorry, dear. I really have no idea what you're talking about," said Regina in a voice viscous as honey.

Regina placed the heel of her hand under her chin and let her fingers curl in front of her mouth, drawing the tip of her pinky finger between her teeth with the soft bite of her smile. She noticed a pair of eyes drop, breaking the eye contact, and enjoyed her victory immensely.

Emma retaliated by hooking her index finger on the hem of Regina's skirt and slowly raising it higher, making sure to graze the skin on the way.

"My desk at the Sheriff's station..." suggested Emma. "That was on the list right?"

Regina forced her eyes not to roll. "Not the top of the list."

Emma stood up, smirking obviously, and placed her palms flat on the desk on either side of the brunette's hips. In this position, Emma had the advantage of height and as she leaned in closer so that her lower body pressed against trim nylon legs, it made Regina have to tilt her head back to meet the green eyes above her.

"Ah, so you want our first time to take place in bed then?" Emma's lips hovered tantalisingly close.

"I... thought so," Regina murmured distractedly.

Emma grazed her with a barely-there kiss. "Mm you've thought about it a lot have you?"

"Not particularly."

"Liar," breathed Emma. She dipped lower to capture Regina's warm mouth in a fuller kiss.

Unbeknownst to the two lovers, Mary Margaret appeared in the doorway and it was the second time the schoolteacher had come to Emma's office. The first time, upon seeing the pair engrossed in each other she'd had to double back and re-enter, deciding to make a lot more noise the second time around.

The knock on the doorframe startled Emma and she jumped back like she'd been caught with her fingers in the till. "Mo-Mary Margaret!"

"Hi Emma. Sorry to interrupt."

"Miss Blanchard. How lovely to see you," trilled Regina in a tone that indicated the exact opposite sentiment. She slid off Emma's desk and faced her former enemy defiantly as though waiting for a fight.

"Regina." Mary Margaret replied with exaggerated brightness. "You're just the person I wanted to see."

"Forgive me for not reciprocating," Regina deadpanned.

Emma leaned her face onto her hand and sighed. Sassy Regina had returned with a vengeance, fortified by her recent happiness injection. The Mayor always had been insufferably smug when she was winning whatever game she happened to be playing. But it was only a cover - Emma could tell from her stiff posture and tight jaw that Regina was uneasy at being discovered in this position.

"What are you doing here, Mary Margaret. Is Henry ok?" said Emma.

"Yes, he's fine, don't worry. Actually I'm here about another problem. The Acting Mayor quit so we have to find someone else to take over."

Emma rubbed her forehead wearily. "Ugh. He quits  _now_  in the middle of all this stuff going on? Remind me how many Acting Mayors we've gone through so far?"

"Well, only two," admitted Mary Margaret. "But it seems like more since they've been somewhat lacking in skills and experience."

"Sooo why are you asking me what to do about it?"

"I'm not." Mary Margaret chanced a look at Regina. "I'm here to ask Regina to step in."

"Seriously?" said Emma, not out of unpleasant surprise.

Regina's expression remained expertly composed. "You want me to be Mayor again. Need I remind you that it was you who asked me to step down after the curse broke?"

Mary Margaret agreed with a firm nod. "I'm aware of how inconsistent this seems. Under the circumstances it was inappropriate then for you to continue to be in a position of power. Things are different now."

"Yes, I'm sure they've all forgotten the small matter of my cursing them into another realm."

Mary Margaret went on earnestly, like she'd practiced. "The curse gave people the knowledge and skills they'd need to do their jobs in Storybrooke didn't it? Otherwise Michael wouldn't know how to fix cars and Archie wouldn't know how to fix minds. Nobody here was given the knowledge necessary to be Mayor because that position was already taken. There's no-one else but you."

"You're saying that I'm the only choice? I feel so loved," Regina mocked.

"But you weren't given a cursed identity were you? How did you know how to do your job?" asked Emma, as the thought only just occurred to her.

"You're bound to become good at anything if you spend 28 years doing it," said Regina dismissively. "The obvious exception being you and dressing yourself properly."

_Aaaand we're back with the insults again._  Emma grinned inwardly. Regina must be feeling self-conscious about displaying their changed relationship status with her former enemy as an audience if she was resorting to taking potshots. There was no use hiding it anymore and she wasn't fooling anyone by trying to cover up the obvious. But it was still new to them both. It must be reminding her of raw memories of having her first new shoot of happiness plucked from it's stem before it had a chance to meet sunlight. Especially since the principle cause of that loss was standing right in front of her.

"Regina, this really is the best thing for the town," Mary Margaret was saying, trying to convince the reluctant woman with her reasoning.

"Er, don't we have more important things to worry about right now? Like the fact that the town is disappearing? Soon there might not be anything left for her to be the Mayor of," Emma pointed out.

"You are unbelievable," Regina sneered at Mary Margaret. "To expect me to take over when everything is going to hell. You expect me to be grateful for the offer of captaining this sinking ship?"

"Technically it's  _shrinking,_  not sinking," muttered Emma, ever the smartass.

"Yes. It is." Regina's eyes flashed. "If I agree to this, I will go down in the books as the villain who let Storybrooke disappear and Snow White's hands will remain clean. Apart from the blood of my mother that is, which nobody cares to recall. Why exactly should I do this?"

"Regina," said Mary Margaret softly. "You were a good queen."

Emma's eyebrows shot up. "I'm assuming you mean 'apart from the mass murdering and evil sorcery' right?"

"Yes-apart-from-that." Mary Margaret hissed, she shot her daughter a chastising look for a quick second and then returned her gaze to meet Regina's hard stare. "I meant that the kingdom was prosperous under your rule. Trade increased, health and living conditions of the people improved -"

"They certainly were healthy enough to burn effigies and scream obscenities at me from the gates every morning," said Regina in a droll voice.

Mary Margaret went on explaining with growing confidence that she was getting through. "Cora gave you master tuition in managing affairs of state. I know you favour the Leviathan political model, the necessity of absolute sovereignty. The people don't always recognise what is best for them. Sometimes a Queen must make hard decisions for the good of all, even if they are unpopular. In return for power, the Queen is charged with the protection and defense of the realm."

Regina regarded her blankly. "What would you know about social contract theory? You barely attended your tutors' sessions."

"I heard you talking about it once. You may not have paid much attention to me, but I paid attention to you, Stepmother."

Regina's posture, already ramrod straight, tensed further at the hated title.

"This is so typical of you, Snow, you want me to take the reins of your runaway horse again. There's nothing I regret more than saving you that day," said Regina in the cruellest voice she could muster.

Mary Margaret tilted her head with a kind smile. "No, you don't. If I had died that day, you wouldn't have Henry now..."  _Or Emma._ The rest of the sentence lay unsaid but they all heard it.

Regina, to the credit of her self-composure, barely reacted.

"And you'd do it again," said Mary Margaret confidently. "Whether you knew the eventual outcome or not, you'd do it again because that is what good people do. That's why you will take the job."

"Overstate my goodness to your peril," Regina said stubbornly. "I refuse to go along with anything that will benefit you."

"What if it benefits you as well? I've never seen anyone enjoy paperwork as much as you." Mary Margaret's tone was innocent.

Regina lowered a menacing glare and twitched like she was going to move towards the pixie-haired brunette who was stubbornly maintaining her ground.

Detecting the danger, Emma stepped between them holding her hands at arms length like they were boxing opponents in a ring. "Woah hey! Take it easy. For god's sake stop baiting her, Mary Margaret. You guys are fairytale characters and I'm a real person so my opinion is the only valid one here."

They both gave her filthy looks.

"Um yeah," said Emma, nervously glancing between her Mom and her girlfriend and wondering which of them she'd get in more shit with over this.

"What I mean is, this is the real world and the town Mayor is an elected position. You can't just put whoever you want in power like you're usurping a throne. It's undemocratic or something."

Mary Margaret raised her chin. "Then we'll hold an election. Regina's running."

"Who will I be running against - you?" said Regina flatly. "I am not going to submit myself to such pointless humiliation. The masses may be fickle but they are not going to elect the Evil Queen over Snow White."

"I won't be running," said Mary Margaret simply. "I have no idea how to be Mayor. You'll take on the position of Acting Mayor for a while and then run as the only candidate. Storybrooke can either elect you... or not. Perhaps we'll learn something about the goodwill of the people."

Regina crossed her arms in irritation. "This is going to be one of your ideas isn't it? Like the time you said we should ride over to Tinburgh unannounced for a surprise tea party. Agatha  _hated_  children, especially precocious little girls. That was  _not_  a good idea."

"Why does everyone keep saying that!" blurted Mary Margaret.

After an awkward pause Mary Margaret left in a flustered huff, muttering something about seeing them at home later. She was satisfied that she'd made her offer and her point without it ending in bloodshed but it was always wearying going to battle with Regina. Words and magic - the former sovereign wielded both arguments and spells with exceptional precision and without backing down. Exactly the reason why she was suitable for the job.

"So. You're gonna be my boss again," said Emma, peering at Regina with half-closed eyes when they were alone again. "Kinky."

"Technically I haven't agreed to it yet," said Regina stubbornly.

Emma snaked an arm around her waist, trying to get her prickly girlfriend to warm up. "Come on, Regina. Forget for five seconds where the offer came from and think about it, ok? You are the right choice. Getting your job back will be good for you. And if you're thinking about dabbling in any sort of corruption … well, I'm sure the Sheriff can find a way to make you behave."

Regina ignored the last part and admitted her last reason for hesitating. "What if I lose? Henry is going to be disappointed."

"Regina," said Emma with a loaded smirk. "What if you  _win_?"

The former Evil Queen had received two offers that day: an unscrupulous one which had tempted her sorely and an honest one that she was tempted to spurn since it came from an unwanted source. Begrudgingly, Regina realised she knew which one was right. How irritating.

* * *

The next morning, everyone was surprised to see that Em had returned to the apartment sometime during the night. She didn't explain where she'd gone or why despite their questioning and her parents were just glad to see her safe so they decided to let it slide. Ri and Henry had missed her the most and had least understood her absence, but the troubled teen barely responded when they said how much they'd missed her and were glad to have her back.

Em must've woke up in a cranky mood and it only got worse when she saw Emma and Regina come out of the same bedroom again. Over breakfast, she glared at anyone who spoke to her and even ignored Ri when she slid her hand under the table out of concern. The adults got up and went about their morning getting ready for work or school, intending to leave the teens alone during the day again.

Henry was chattering happily to Regina and Emma about random things as they tried to pack his schoolbag and lunchbox in time for him to get the bus. The long-held tension between his mothers had dissipated and the three of them had fallen into a comfortable arrangement of talking and laughing, with plenty of smiles shared between the two moms. Though the true nature of the change between them had gone over his head, Henry seemed happy that they were getting along together.

But when Em noticed Ri watching them with a hopeful smile the blonde teen's bad mood turned even blacker.

"Will you shut up kid? You're giving me a headache," snapped Em. She shoved her chair back with a harsh scrape and stood up.

All four adults were ready to reprimand her for being so mean to the little boy, but they were shocked by who got in first in a tone they'd never heard from her before and it was like a match had been struck in a box full of tinder.

"Don't talk to him like that!" said Ri, jumping to her feet.

Em stepped up into Ri's face so they were toe-to-toe. "Like what. Who cares, he's a brat."

"No he isn't. You are the brat, Em Swan. He's just a child, he doesn't need you being nasty to him."

"So what. When I was his age-"

"Just because you were treated badly is no reason to take it out on him!"

Seeing that the teens were staring each other down heatedly and gearing up for an explosive fight, Mary Margaret tried to intervene. "Girls, maybe you should calm down and try to-"

Em continued like she hadn't heard. "What would you know about anything, Ri. You're such a pampered little princess, you don't know shit about how the world really is. The world sucks and people are idiots. No-one learns anything from being sheltered from the truth."

"That might be true but I know the only reason you're mean to Henry is that you're jealous."

"What? No I'm not," Em scoffed defensively.

"Oh yes you are. You're both so alike and you see his life, this family he's got, and you're jealous because you never had any of it. He has the childhood you wish you had yourself."

"What I wish, Ri, is that I hadn't told you any of that stuff. I shouldn't have trusted you!"

Ri softened her expression and voice, afraid that she'd gone too far and wanting to be able to comfort her without being rebuffed. She lowered her clenching hands to put them away. "Em, I'm sorry. Snapping at you, I shouldn't have done that. I'm not trying to hurt you-"

"Yeah well, you're doing a good job of it, Your Highness," Em spat. "I'll talk to him however I want to."

Ri propped her hands on her hips. "You will not, Em Swan. Not while I'm around. It's easier to build up a child than it is to repair an adult. You're not getting anywhere near him if you continue to treat him like you have been."

"Stop coddling the kid. He'll be fine. But he'll never get anywhere in life if he's tied to your apron strings and has his mother controlling his every move. You really got the whole overprotective Mom thing happening already don't you, Ri?"

"What does that mean?"

Em rolled her eyes and half turned away with her arms folded tensely across her front. "Fine, I don't care. He's your kid. Do what you want with him."

"What are you talking about? No." Ri shook her head quickly. "He's Emma's son and it must hurt his feelings terribly when you're so hostile to him. You have to try to get to know him. He's yours."

"No, he's not. Where'd you get that idea? He's Regina's son. He's  _yours_."

The teens were both confused and turned to their older selves to resolve the apparent contradiction.

Emma and Regina hadn't tried to break up the fight between their younger selves so far because it was well, bizarre. It seemed like they'd already had this exact fight several times over the last year, arguing over their son and their different claims to being his mother. It was that sense of deja vu that stunned them into watching it unfold as third parties, since they'd only experienced it previously from their own perspectives. Now, things were new and tentative between them, they were finally making progress, they were starting to trust each other and share Henry... but how could they explain all of that? It felt incredibly strange watching  _themselves_ fight.

The day the girls arrived in Storybrooke they'd separated and gone with each other's older counterpart. Ri must've assumed that Henry was Emma's son because he lived with her, and Em had heard from Regina that he was her son but was being kept away from her by Emma. Now the girls were about to find out the truth... that he was both of theirs, even though they weren't together?

"Is it true?" asked Ri hopefully. "Please tell me, I need to know. Is he really mine?"

"You are my mom, Ri," Henry piped up.

"Really? Oh, I have a son one day." Ri's eyes shone and she went straight to him to cup gentle hands around his face, as though seeing him for the first time.

Henry nodded. "Yup!"

Ri looked up at Regina and frowned. "But when I asked you if I ever get to have children you said 'yes and no'."

"I didn't give birth to him while I was married. I adopted him after I came to this world," said Regina.

"I don't understand what that is," said Ri. "I thought he belonged to Emma. He's so much like her."

Em narrowed her eyes, looking from Henry to her older self. Ri may have been confused by both the physical and social implications of adoption but  _she_  certainly wasn't. She knew things weren't right here. The kid had been adopted by Regina so why had Emma been trying to keep him away from her before all this started? What would give her the right to take the kid away if he wasn't hers to take? How could he belong to Emma as well? Unless-

"Kid, how old are you," asked Em evenly.

"Em, listen, it's not what you think-" Emma started to reply.

"I'm eleven," said Henry. "Emma's 28, nearly 29."

Em glared at her older self hatefully after she'd done the simple math and realised what it had added up to. She was not long from getting pregnant and not only that-

" _You gave him up_?!" yelled Em angrily. "How could you! I can't believe this. I HATE who I become."

Em stormed out of the apartment before anyone could stop her, slamming the door behind her. The sound rang in the silence that remained as the rest of the family stood stunned by the teens' fight and the connection they'd finally made to each other.

Ri was still mesmerised by Henry and the new knowledge that he would one day belong to her. She was crying hard as she pulled him into a hug and murmured in his ear in case he was upset by what he'd heard. But in trying to comfort him she was also looking for some herself after her explosive fight with Em.

"You're so beautiful, Henry. I can't wait. Everything will be worth it if I can just have you. You are such a wonderful little person. Don't you worry, sweetheart, Em will come around. She just doesn't know you yet."

Henry's voice was muffled into Ri's shoulder. "I know. Emma acted weird when she first met me too. It'll be okay, Ri. You'll see. I'll make everything okay, I promise."

Mary Margaret opened and closed her mouth several times, searching for words to describe what she'd just seen. "Were they fighting over Henry? Em thought he was Regina's son and Ri thought he was Emma's?"

Emma had the grace to look a little chagrined. "Apparently."

"That felt kinda familiar," said David.

"Yes, it did." Mary Margaret looked pointedly at the older Emma and Regina like they were naughty students. "They looked  _exactly_  like their older selves just now. Fighting over their son."

Regina glanced worriedly at the front door. "I'll go after her. She shouldn't be alone right now."

"No." Emma shook her head firmly. "Not this time. You take yours and I'll take mine."

Regina grabbed her hand to stop her for a moment. "Be kind to yourself, Emma. She's very hurt. What are you going to say to her?"

Emma set her mouth in in a grim line. "What she needs to hear."


	27. Myself and I

Only when the boy was in danger of missing his schoolbus did Ri reluctantly let go of Henry. Since finding out he was her son, she could hardly take her eyes off him or keep from hugging him. After hearing nothing but bleak details of her future since coming to Storybrooke - of pain and suffering and the curse that brought them - Ri had finally seen a bright ray of hope. Something that would make enduring all of it worthwhile.

The fear that she'd be lonely forever had been erased in an instant upon learning that the sweet little boy who she already loved would be  _hers._

He would be Em's son too. That thought gave her mixed joy and pain. She would be getting her chance at motherhood at the expense of Em having to give up her baby. For a decade the three of them would be split in two, not even knowing what they were all missing.

Ri could feel how perfect it'd be. If only they could get their happy ending. Maybe all they needed was a little help...

"Reginaaa," sang Ri innocently, daintily sitting on the couch next to her older self. "Emma's great isn't she? She's so strong and unfailingly loyal and protective. I always feel safe with her. She never breaks her promises. Trust is so important don't you think?"

Regina raised a lazy eyebrow. "I suppose."

"She's really pretty too. I know her choice of attire is sometimes strange, but she is very attractive in those tight pants that give her figure such definition. Did you see her arms the other day when she came out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel? I think she must be quite athletic."

"Indeed."

"And she's wonderful with Henry! Oh I still can't believe he's our son. It's like a dream come true. I have a son who is Em's child as well. Emma is a good mother isn't she?"

"She allows him to have too many sweets," said Regina dismissively.

"Um... and another thing, I think she really likes you," said Ri hesitantly. "I don't know what happened between you two before, but I've noticed things getting better these past few days. Maybe you could give her another chance? I know it's overwhelming but you might like to try again?"

"I might." Regina pursed her lips into a teasing smile.

Ri crinkled her brow and pouted when she finally realised what her older self was doing. "You're humouring me. Why?"

"Emma and I-"

"REALLY?!" Ri squealed before her double could get any more out, and then clapped her hands over her mouth.

"I don't remember ever being able to produce that high-pitched noise."

"You asked her to marry you?" gasped Ri. She had her fists balled up under her chin.

Regina's smile was all teeth and scarlet lipstick. "Not exactly. She loves me. I told her I love her too."

Ri's eyes sparkled. "Oh! How lovely. I am so jealous. I can't even get the words out with Em," the teen finished with a pout.

"You pushed her away and she misunderstood why. The same thing happened with Emma and I last year."

Ri shook her head sadly. "I didn't mean to. I was scared. I'm always scared."

"You look at the world and all you see is threats," said Regina softly. "That isn't necessarily an accurate perception of the way things are. The world we came from was far from fair. My grief led me down a dark path, I suppressed fear only by instilling terror in others. It felt like there was no other option. This world affords a better chance. Many will argue that I can never deserve it but I want to find happiness again."

Regina saw Ri's eyes fill with tears and reached out to stroke her cheek gently. "You already feel the guilt and magnitude of what I've done. Free yourself of those feelings for now. You're here for perhaps a short time but you are not alone like I have been. You have Em. Don't be afraid to tell her how you feel."

A tear dripped down Ri's cheek onto Regina's thumb. "I'm sorry. I don't know how."

"I know it's hard for you. The only real way to deal with fear is to face it."

Ri pouted grumpily at the trite expression. "I suppose that might be irritatingly accurate."

"If you were practicing jumps with Rocinante and he threw you what would you do?"

"That wouldn't happen. I have too good a seat and Rocinante and I are very familiar with one another."

Regina raised her eyebrows and gave her evasive younger self an exacting look. They both knew that her stubborn childhood steed had thrown her several times when they were only newly acquainted.

"Fine!" sighed Ri exasperatedly. "I'd go riding again, you know I would. But this isn't like that. I'm not scared of Rocinante. I wouldn't want to give up riding so I'd definitely try again."

"Don't you think the same principle could apply elsewhere?"

"You mean one day I don't have to be afraid all the time? I can be free?" asked Ri hopefully, searching Regina's face for evidence that she had indeed come through it herself.

The older Regina didn't answer, instead letting the question linger like humidity in the air. The two of them settled into a comfortable peace, one pondering future possibilities, the other letting the door to the past close.

Ri smiled and nodded to herself. "Everybody thinks I'm weak. They think I need to be protected from whatever history has in store for me and that going through all of it won't be worth it in the end. But I'm as strong as I need to be. I could endure anything for my child... and for my girl. You and Emma and Henry will get your happy ending if it's the last thing I do."

"I think we might," agreed Regina.

"But what should I do about Em and I  _now_?" said Ri despondently. "We've hurt each other so badly it seems like nothing can fix it and it just keeps getting worse and worse."

Regina indicated with her eyes to hint at the coat hooks near the door. "First, we should probably go find them. They've been gone long enough. It's cold out don't you think?"

* * *

Emma approached the swingset and sat down in the unoccupied one. Em was sitting beside her, not swinging, just staring blankly ahead. To anyone who didn't know what had been going on they looked like a pair of identical twins right down to the expression on their faces.

"Hey," said Emma.

"Hey," returned Em morosely.

"I was eighteen when I had Henry," explained Emma without further preamble.

"Tell me it wasn't Dean cos I am so not goin' there again."

Emma snorted. "No, it wasn't him. I met Neal when I was boosting a car in Phoenix- my car actually."

"You drive a stolen car, Sheriff?" Em raised her eyebrows slyly.

"He was a thief too, we got together for a while. I saw him again recently in New York for the first time in ten years."

"Did you love him," asked Em, scuffing her foot in the sand.

"Yeah, actually I did," admitted Emma, her tone slightly wistful but laced with the bitterness that comes from seeing a rosy past with clearer vision. "But I was young and stupid like you, I would've gone with anyone who seemed like they cared about me. But just because you love someone doesn't mean they're good for you. I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't seen him again."

"So he didn't love you back? Ugh, typical. Why does that always happen to me."

"No, I think he did, but sometimes love isn't enough. I trusted him and- anyway it's a boring story. He left me and I went to prison. That's it."

Em cringed. "The kid was born  _in jail_?"

"Yeah," sighed Emma.

Em kicked off the ground and started swinging back and forth for a while, thinking about the new information about her future self's past. She stopped again abruptly digging her feet in with a crunch.

"But WHY. Why would you give him up? This was my chance to have a family and you let it go. How could you abandon him like that?  _Like I was._ "

"I wasn't ready," said Emma defensively. "I was a mess and he deserved a lot better. You don't know what it's like yet, holding this tiny little person who is perfect and helpless and he depends on you for everything. I wasn't good enough for him."

"But at least we would've been together," implored Em.

Emma sighed painfully. "I couldn't take care of him properly. Kids need a lot of stuff. They need a home and someone to guide them and cook for them and teach them how to read. I had nothing to give him."

"So you took your chances, hoping that he'd actually get all that? What if he'd ended up somewhere like the fucking Hendersens huh?"

"I know, I know!" cried Emma, unpleasantly reminded of the guilt she'd carried for years. "There were bad places out there but there were good ones too. I wanted him to have his best chance. He got Regina. He didn't end up unwanted like I did. He  _won_."

Em pondered that quietly. "Ri really wants kids someday. She's gonna be a great Mom."

Emma suspected there was more to the fight between the girls, she knew that Em had some thought running around in her head that was pushing her escape buttons. Something was bothering the teen, something to do with finding out that Henry was both her son and Regina's... and something that had been making her act out against Ri.

"You know, Regina and I fought a lot when we first met. Actually, we starting fighting almost the minute we first laid eyes on each other. Mostly about Henry," admitted Emma.

"So there's no hope for us?" said Em bleakly. "Ri and I don't get together in the future. It just gets worse and worse from here."

"We weren't always fighting last year. We have more in common than you'd think. There were a few moments when we kinda connected. But uh, recently things have... changed for the better."

Em whipped her head around in surprise. "Are you saying-"

"Yeah," Emma smiled and was pleased to see the expression mirrored on her double's face. "I don't know what we are yet but we're something."

"That's awesome! Wow." Em nodded wistfully to herself.  _Maybe things really would be okay one day._ She held up her fist to Emma for a Bro Fist Bump. "Have you been to Second Base yet, Crankypants? Cos if you need any tips just let me know, you could learn a thing or two from me."

Emma groaned. "Oh god why. Why are you so annoying? No, I do not need any help in that area."

"What does a hottie like Regina see in a boring loser like you? I just don't know," said Em with a straight face.

"Probably the same thing Ri sees in you."

Em looked away sadly. "Yeah? What's that."

"Well, maybe you should ask  _her_  why she loves you. Why don't you tell me why you've been treating her like crap since the other night."

Em leaned her head against the chain of the swing. "You already know don't you."

"Pretend I don't."

"You said it before. Just because you love someone doesn't mean they're good for you."

"You're afraid of Ri? Because of who she grows up to be?"

"No!" denied Em angrily. "You know full well I meant  _me_. I'm bad for her. Look what happened the other night when we were together. I broke her heart. She told me what happens in the book, the Evil Queen wanted vengeance for her broken heart. I can't do that to her. I don't want to be one of the people who puts her on that path. I won't."

"That's not going to happen, Em."

"You don't know that. I just want her to be happy. I want her to have everything she wishes for."

"Like marriage, children?"

"I knew she was Henry's Mom. I figured that she was with some guy, her husband, but he was no longer in the picture. I didn't want to get in the way of that happening for Ri. I didn't want to ruin her chance of becoming a mother. She'd be crushed if Henry was never born, she loves him so much already."

Emma nodded slowly. "You know the truth now. It's actually the opposite, she gets to become a mother because of you. It's you who brings Henry into this world."

Em sniffled wetly and drew the back of her hand across her nose. "Yeah. I'd do anything to make Ri happy. I feel so bad for hurting her. I'm bad for her. I hate myself sometimes."

Emma got up off the swing and went to crouch down in front of Em's feet. The teen avoided her gaze though, stubbornly hiding the tears in her eyes.

"You are not bad," said Emma softly. "I know what everyone keeps saying and it's hard not to believe it... but it's not true. You are not a bad kid. You're actually a really good kid."

Em started to sob, so Emma cupped her flushed face with one hand on either side, smoothing the wisps of blonde hair back.

"I know your whole life has sucked," whispered Emma. "It's a crapfest, especially now at seventeen. You're not a kid anymore but you're not old enough to be a full adult and so you're stuck in some kind of purgatory where the adults don't take proper care of you but you can't take care of yourself yet either. I promise you, life does get better. It won't always be like this. You won't always be powerless... and you won't always be alone."

"I'm so sick of it!" cried Em thickly. "I don't wanna be alone anymore."

"I know we don't know what's going to happen but you've got a chance here that I never had. You've got a chance to be with Ri now, while you're both here. Don't waste it."

Emma placed her hands on her younger self's jean-clad knees. "And maybe you could try to get to know Henry?"

"Can't believe he's my kid," murmured Em. Her eyes unfocused as she tried to remember everything she'd said to him. She wished now that she'd paid more attention and hadn't ignored him quite so much.  _He's mine. I have a kid. No wonder he's such a brat!_

* * *

The Emma's were still sitting on the swings in the park, staring absentmindedly and occasionally talking to each other, when they noticed they were no longer alone.

The Regina's were now standing at the edge of the sand and each of them was holding a jacket that belonged to her respective Emma. They looked like identical twins but for their haircuts and their stances: Ri always stood lightly on the front of her feet like she expected to spring off at any moment, Regina was much more solidly grounded as if the gravity of her past constantly dragged her down.

The younger brunette looked frightfully nervous and stayed back when Regina approached them. Emma got up and allowed Regina to slip the jacket around her, looking like they were about to leave.

Em glanced at Ri and then shot her older self a panicked look. "Hey, you're leaving me?" whispered the teen worriedly.

"What are you afraid of?" teased Emma. "Ri's a little sweetie. I've got the scary older meaner one."

Regina jabbed her in the ribs for that jibe. "Em, don't listen to your older self. It'll be fine. Just... wait for her to tell you, otherwise she won't get it out."

The pair of adults continued to bicker and banter as they left the park. As they passed a nervous-looking Ri, Emma gave her shoulder a little squeeze and whispered some words of encouragement in her ear.

Once they were gone, Ri approached Em and held out the sports jacket. "A-are you cold? You ran out without your jacket. Here."

Em accepted it with a small smile of thanks and put it on wordlessly.

"Oh Em, you look like you've been crying, are you ok?" Ri fidgeted and looked at her feet. "I don't like it when we fight. But... even when we're mad at each other... I find that I still... feel the same way about you... Maybe it's like that for you too?"

Em groaned internally.  _Oh this is so painful!_ Waiting for Ri to speak up could take forever. All she wanted was to throw her arms around the other girl so they could make up, but she wanted to give Ri the chance to figure things out herself for once.

"Henry's gone to school by now." Ri frowned slightly, seemingly afraid of re-introducing the topic that'd led to their fight. "Um... I didn't know that you didn't know he was yours... and I didn't know he was mine. But he is... he's our son and maybe we should … have a talk about that. Later."

Ri swallowed hard. "I'm so sorry for shouting at you, Em. I said very unkind things. I just get so worried about Henry sometimes that I can't think of anything else."

Em nodded and spoke softly. "I'm sorry too, Ri. You were right, I was jealous. I guess I resented him because I thought it meant you and I didn't end up together. I was a jerk - to both of you. You don't know how much I regret that now."

"I know how much it must hurt to find out that you gave up your child. But Emma and Regina are together now, do you know? I think we're going to be a family one day. Maybe things really will be ok for us in the end. You and I have more in common than it seems, even though we're from different worlds and different times. We both want the same things in life, I feel."

They lapsed into an awkward silence. Em kicked the sand under her swing and traced out a few patterns.

"Em? I have something I want to tell you."

Em froze but didn't interrupt.

"Fine," Ri sighed and took a deep breath to buoy her courage. "You don't have to say anything, you can just listen. You were right before when you said I don't know anything about the world. Most people overlook me and hardly anyone ever listens to me or asks me what I think or feel about anything - except you. You were the first person I met here but you were also the first person who ever cared enough to hear me, even when I didn't speak at all. When you said you loved me the other night I was scared and my heart got overwhelmed. I'm sorry I hurt you and pushed you away. I know you're listening so I'll say it anyway:

"I love you."

Unable to stand it another second, Em leaped off the swing and threw her arms around Ri and held her tight. She could feel the petite girl's hot form trembling against her.

"I love you so much, Ri!" whispered Em, burying her face in silky dark hair.

"I can't tell you how dearly I've missed holding you, Em," sighed Ri.

"Missed you too. I'm never gonna let you go ever again ok? Never ever."

Ri giggled. "Then we shall be an odd-looking pair trying to walk around wrapped up in each other like this."

"Don't care," laughed Em.

"It ought to make bathing rather interesting."

Em snorted. "Ahm, no, it'd make it  _very_  interesting."

Ri pulled back a little so she could look her in the eyes. "Em, I want you to know. I want you to understand what happened the other night. I'm really sorry I let you take the blame for getting us in trouble. You don't know what it's like where I come from. I'm only worth my marriage value and without that... I panicked. I don't know if we were supposed to love each other or not, but it feels so right. I wanted to be with you that way."

Em tilted her head sympathetically. "Ri, just because you want something doesn't mean you should take it. But I don't care if we're supposed to be together, all I know is I love you more than anything and I'd wait for you forever. You're worth everything to me. I'll do anything to make sure we get our family, I promise you I'll make it happen. Whatever it takes."

"Me too."

Em went to kiss her and paused millimetres away, letting Ri close the final distance herself. It was soft and sweet and chaste but it sealed the deal.

"Does this mean you're my girlfriend again?" said Ri.

"Nuh uh. It means you're  _my_  girlfriend."

Ri frowned playfully. "That's the same thing! Surely this is a commutative arrangement."

Em retorted in the same tone. "Nope. You're mine. I said I loved you first."

"That doesn't necessarily mean you were the first one to fall in love though."

"Of course I was first. It was love at first sight for me."

"Me too," Ri raised her chin smugly. "I was first because I saw you in the woods before you saw me."

Em opened her mouth as if to reply and paused.  _Damn._

"See! I'm right," declared Ri triumphantly.

"It doesn't really matter who was first does it? The important thing is we're together now."

"You're only saying that because you lost the argument."

Em laughed, indicating that she was just having her on. "Yep. I'm glad we met in the woods that day, Ri. Imagine if we'd missed each other? Maybe we wouldn't have fallen in love. Maybe we wouldn't have even met."

"That is a strange thought. What happens to someone if they never end up meeting their true love? I wonder if they miss their chance completely? We could've passed right by each other and never known how things could've been."

"I dunno. It's weird that we're together anyway. Technically we're not supposed to be here, so we were never meant to meet when we did."

"We would've been like them and met for the first time as adults."

"Yeah." Em scrunched her face, clearly unhappy with the idea of having to wait that long.

Ri's brow creased with worry. "What happens when we have to go back to where we came from? Emma and Regina don't remember being us so that means we won't remember each other. We'll each be alone again and we won't even know it."

Em cupped Ri's face and looked at her earnestly. "Do you trust me? I can find anyone I'm looking for. I will find you again one day. I always keep my promises."

"But we won't remember-"

Em winked. "Don't worry, I'll do something to get your attention. You won't miss it."

"Knowing you it'll be something loud and obnoxious, Em," Ri teased, tickling her around the middle.

Em laughed. "Probably."

Ri smiled beautifully and draped her hands around Em's neck, letting her wrists cross. "Then I'll give you something sweet, to remember me by."

"There's nothing sweeter than you, Ri."

"You'd better make sure. Kiss me again," murmured Ri, mere seconds before Em's lips captured hers.


	28. Call of duty

It had been several days since the new Acting Mayor had reluctantly returned to office but the sound of protesters yelling from outside Town Hall had yet to die down.

The former Evil Queen was well-used to the peasants screaming at her from the safety of their faceless hoards, but Regina Mills had to admit that the people here were more creative with their signs and less vulgar with their slogans than they had ever been in the Enchanted Forest. She stood up behind her desk and peeked through the curtains at the brightly coloured bobbing signs:

[ Read the signs... STORYBROOKE OR STORYBROKEN? ]

[ EVIL wears a pretty face and the devil wears PRADA ]

[ Out damned despot! ]

[ Burn the witch! ]

[ PEOPLE HATE YOU ]

Well, that last one was just juvenile and not even clever. Regina rolled her eyes. The only thing that continued to surprise her was the impressive endurance that this little crowd of hecklers was displaying. They did look rather bonechilled and hungry when she strode through the parking lot to her heated office every morning with a takeaway cup of hot vanilla latte in her hand.

The Sheriff had gone ballistic when she'd found out.

_"Geezus Regina, there's a line outside for your head! Where did these protesters come from?"_

_"The comfort of their homes and workplaces I imagine, dear," said Regina dryly, returning back to her paperwork._

_"Regina! How can you be so calm? We have to do something about this!"_

_"A Queen does not rise from her throne to address a peasant throwing stones."_

_Emma made a growl of frustration. "What if Henry comes to visit you after school and sees that crap about his mother? What if one of them is a dangerous lunatic? Can't I arrest them?"_

_"They are merely invoking their democratic right to be a nuisance and voice their idiotic opinions in the pithiest way possible. As you keep reminding me you are a real person," Regina arched an eyebrow, "and in the real world exercising free speech is not cause for arrest."_

_Emma glared and gritted her teeth. "Whatever. But the second any one of them lays a hand on you or threatens you in any way I'm gonna throw their ass in a cell. I mean it, Regina," she said seriously. "This isn't a joke. If you get any threats - I don't care if it's by phone, email, or carrier pigeon - I want you to notify me immediately."_

_Regina softened her expression. "Emma. Thankyou, but I don't need protection. You don't need to rally the battle cry every time someone looks at me the wrong way."_

_"I'm worried about you," said Emma earnestly._

_It wasn't the last time she'd said it and with a face so pleading and sincere that it made Regina's heart melt... but she felt that the concern was unnecessary._

That was why she hadn't told Emma about the bloody pig's heart she'd found wrapped in newspaper on her doorstep at home that morning. It had failed in its obvious intent to rattle her and she really did not have time for such nonsense. Owing to the previous Acting Mayors' collective incompetence there was a huge backlog of work waiting for her upon her return. Getting the Sheriff's office involved would only complicate matters and cause further delays.

Regina was just about to leave the window and resume her position at her desk when a hush fell over the protesters. The absence of noise caught her attention and she parted the curtains again. The sight on the impeccably manicured lawn caused her eyes to harden dangerously.

Standing apart from the protesters, holding up his own piece of cardboard, was the familiar form of a precocious little boy yelling retorts at the crowd's insults.

_Her_  precocious little boy.

She'd been calm, cool, and detached so far. She hadn't deigned to bestow any attention on the protesters beyond what they deserved (which was none). They hadn't yet seen her get angry, they hadn't yet seen the return of the Evil Queen … but they were able to.

* * *

Regina took the fire stairs to the ground floor's side exit and pressed her speed dial number on her phone.

"Sheriff Swan? Get here now," she barked into the phone and swiftly hung up, confident that she'd be hearing the sound of police sirens in under three minutes.

The crowd outside Town Hall was too busy arguing with the child to notice her striding across the lawn towards them with a countenance seething with ice-cold fury. Her protective instinct flared immediately at the sight of them with her son.

"...but she's my Mom!" Henry yelled angrily, holding up his little cardboard. " _This_  is the real Evil Queen!"

"Henry James Mills! What are you doing here?" said Regina sternly. "You should be at school."

Henry froze and stopped arguing, recognising what all kids instinctively know - that when your Mom uses all your names at once in  _that_  tone of voice it means you are in deep doo-doo.

Regina reached the group and grabbed Henry by the shoulder to pull him behind her, physically shielding him from their sight.

"But Mo-om!" Henry protested.

"Quiet, Henry. I don't want to hear it."

Regina faced down the small crowd with a stony expression. "Leave my son out of this. The police have been called. I suggest you disband or continue protesting peacefully without involving or otherwise endangering a child."

The closest member of the crowd was a beefy man in blue overalls with a name patch that read BOB and he had a booming voice. "We weren't doin nothin! We was just talking to yer boy there, y' Majesty. He seems to think yer not as evil as you look."

Regina smiled beatifically at the man who towered over her and likely outweighed her fourfold. "He's wrong. I am far worse."

More voices called out accompanied by jeers and cheers of agreement:

_"He's not even your son!"_

_"We heard you were abusing him for years!"_

_"If you can't control your own kid, how can you control an entire town!"_

Regina couldn't believe the stupidity she was hearing. "Obviously you don't have children. They don't necessarily stay where you put them."

A college-age youth lowered his sign and called out to her in a more rational way. "Why should we accept a corrupt Mayor again? This is an elected position and there was no vote."

"That is true," conceded Regina diplomatically. "I have been asked to temporarily fill the post of Acting Mayor. There will be an election."

A slender woman tossed her ankle-length plait over her shoulder and snapped her gum. "You were the one who, like, brought us to this world. You designed our identities and we're stuck with them now. I used to be royalty and now I'm, like, a hairdresser? How is that fair!"

Regina gritted her teeth. "The curse has left us with deeply complicated problems that can't be solved by rhetoric. I will be holding a press conference to address any concerns that the people of Storybrooke have so that we can move forward."

Bob folded his meaty arms across his barrel-chest. "Yer pure evil, woman, and we're not gonna believe a word. Yer should be locked up. We're not gonna stop the protest until yer listen to us and turn yerself in!"

"Given my firm grip on reality and my intolerance of utter blather that seems unlikely," said Regina in a dismissive tone.

The whoop of police sirens interrupted and Emma was out of the cruiser in seconds, leaving the door swinging.

"Hi Emma," Henry called out happily.

"Henry, get in the car. Now," Emma commanded, without taking her eyes off the crowd.

The boy ran past as Emma came to stand next to Regina, posturing so that her badge and gun were both highly visible.

"Is there a problem here, Madam Mayor?"

"Howdy Sheriff," said Bob in what he thought was a polite voice. "We was just explainin' to the Mayor here that we know she's still an evil witch."

Emma glared at Regina as if to say 'I told you so' and then faced the crowd with her palms up.

"Alright, I've had enough of this. All of you get back up there near the road. I can't stop you protesting but you're not doing it on the premises and interfering with Town business.  _And_ ," Emma shot Regina a quick look, "when I find out which one of you has been dumping bloody hearts on her doorstep every morning I'm gonna slap a restraining order on your ass. Now, move it!"

The crowd finally dispersed and Emma let out a breath, facing Regina with concern.

"You alright," asked Emma gruffly.

"I'm fine, Sheriff. I appreciate the hasty response time."

"I'm glad you called me before anything happened to you. Or Henry."

Regina shook her head grimly. "I didn't call you for our safety. I called you to protect theirs. They were in danger from  _me_."

"Oh god," Emma said under her breath. "Those idiots are lucky you've changed. But you still should've told me about the hearts."

Regina bent over to retrieve the small rectangle of cardboard that had fallen out of Henry's hands. She turned it over and recognised it immediately, feeling a painful-but-pleasant clenching in her chest. It was a old photo of the two of them: Regina standing by the nursery window with a tiny baby boy wrapped in a blue blanket in her arms.

"I'll take Henry back to school," said Emma firmly. "He's grounded for the next century. Or two."

"Tell him I love him."

"Nooo Regina, don't be going soft now or  _I'm_  gonna have to start being the responsible one. Being the discipliner would make me a total hypocrite given all the trouble I got into as a kid."

"That's not a word. It's 'disciplinarian'."

Emma cocked an eyebrow. "You're not the least bit angry?"

"Not at Henry. I wasn't aware that our son had an interest in politics," said Regina simply.

"What are you talking about. He's too smart for his own good. He's  _your_  son," scoffed Emma. "Of course he's gonna turn up here and defend you."

"He has a hero-complex. Like his mother," teased Regina, lowering her husky voice. "Who incidentally looked incredibly handsome displaying that tough-gruff Sheriff act and thrusting out her chest so that everyone could see the shiny badge of authority. You take 'protect and serve' very seriously, don't you."

"When it comes to my family I do." Emma licked her lips. "I really want to kiss you right now, but they're watching. They can see from the road."

"If it wouldn't lose me the election and traumatise my son for life I'd throw you down on the lawn right now and have my way with you, Sheriff."

Emma groaned softly at the images she now had in her mind. "I take it back. You haven't changed a bit. You are an evil, evil woman."

"Yes dear, it's right there in my name. Later," said Regina, before heading back to her office with a smile. She sent a little wave to Henry sitting in the police cruiser on the way.

* * *

"Em, squeeze your thighs a little more," said Ri.

"I don't know what I'm doing," said Em, frustrated that she couldn't get it right.

"Keep your back straight but don't tense so much. Let yourself adjust with the movement."

"I feel like I'm gonna fall off!"

Ri smiled up at her and held the reins as she walked the pony around the paddock. "You won't. You're doing fine for a beginner."

"This is harder than it looks," grumbled Em. "I bet my horse is getting bored with me."

Ri had asked Mary Margaret to drop them both off at the stables so they could go riding. Or rather, so that she could teach Em a few basics and then go for a proper ride herself. She'd picked out an older gentle pony for Em who had never ridden before. A concept that Ri found hard to imagine since she'd been sat on a horse for the first time not long after she'd learned to walk and it was equally as natural to her.

"I'm gonna have a sore ass tomorrow aren't I," said Em ruefully.

Ri giggled. "Most probably. You don't have a natural seat I'm afraid."

"Did you just insult my ass? I'd be more convinced if you weren't blushing, Ri."

"You do look nice in those jeans."

"Oh just you wait till I get back on the ground..."

"Promises are easily made. Em, concentrate on what you're doing first. You're lucky the pony knows what she's doing otherwise she'd be hopelessly confused."

When Em had had enough of her basic riding instruction, Ri helped her down by catching her around the waist as she slid to the ground. The blonde teen went off to wait to the side of the paddock while Ri brought out the horse that she was going to ride.

Em's jaw dropped open when she noticed the petite brunette leading an enormous black stallion out of the stables. The horse was so tall that Ri would hardly be able to see over him, his coat shone like obsidian and he had a bold look in his coal-black eye that spoke of unpredictability and willfulness.

Em called out. "Holy shit, Ri! You're going to ride THAT? He's a monster."

Ri sent her a confident look. "Don't judge a horse before you have been introduced. His name is Blaze."

Em raised an eyebrow. "You want me to meet a horse?"

When they neared Em, the stallion stopped when Ri did and shook his head with a snort, causing his black mane to toss. Ri held the back of her hand to the horse's nose so he could smell it. "See? We're friends now."

Em chuckled. "Ri, that thing looks like it could eat you. In one bite."

Ri stroked the horse's head. "Don't listen to a word she says, Blaze. You and I are going to have some fun and then we'll come back and take my wussy girlfriend for a slow trot."

Em laughed. "Ohhh burn. Ok Little Miss Horse Whisperer, we'll see who gets devoured by the Horse from Hell and who doesn't. Have fun."

After that, Em knocked about at the stables on her own for a while while Ri was out riding Blaze. She didn't mind waiting though - the look of pure joy and excitement on Ri's face before she'd swung herself smoothly into the saddle and raced off was enjoyment enough for her.

Em pushed her glasses higher up her nose and squinted into the distance at a small black form racing away as far as she could see.

"Hello." A tall handsome youth a little older than her appeared at her side and leaned on the wooden palings. "Is she alright?"

Em gave him a nonchalant shrug. "Yeah. She's awesome at riding."

"I'm glad." The boy smiled. "She came off badly once. It's good to see her happy again."

Em thought that was strange. Surely Ri was too good to fall off a horse... but what did she know about riding? And Ri did seem to have a fondness for spirited beasts like Blaze out there. How did this guy know who Ri was anyways?

"Uh do you know Regina or something? Do you work at the stables," asked Em, eyeing his riding attire. "They told us no-one else would be here."

The boy didn't answer, he merely kept a knowing gaze on the horizon. He pointed to the rise on the far side of the field beyond the trees. "There's a nice place for a picnic over there. It's fairly secluded. Very romantic. Especially if you don't have to be home in time for tea."

The youth walked away with a wink.

"Yeah ok, thanks. See ya," Em mumbled awkwardly.

* * *

Em watched Ri fussing about with the picnic basket and laying out the tartan blanket meticulously on the ground. Instead of the pastel confections from Mary Margaret's wardrobe that she'd been wearing lately, today Ri was dressed in the riding clothes she'd appeared in. Ri continued smoothing the blanket out with her hand and pouted when the woolen folds wouldn't lay flat on the uneven grass. She was too cute sometimes.

"You gonna have it perfect anytime soon?" teased Em. "I'm starving."

Ri scrunched her nose at her good-naturedly. "You're always starving."

Em looked into the distance innocently and kicked the edge of the blanket with the toe of her Cons, deliberately messing it up.

"Em!" Ri chastised exasperatedly. "Alright, sit down or I'll send you out there with the horses."

True to Ri's word and the recommendation of the boy who Em had seen earlier, the two girls had gone for a slow trot, heading for the far rise of the field so they could have the lunch they'd brought. Their horses - Blaze and Em's sandy-coloured pony - were standing off a-ways, waiting for them and occasionally nibbling at the grass below.

Em crossed her legs under her and made a grab for the Granny's takeaway parcels in the basket. "Okay. What've we got? Chocolate tart, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate eclair ... yup those are all mine obviously... and apple pie for little Ri with whipped cream too … yum-yum-yum ooh what should we get into first?"

Ri laughed. "Em! Those are desserts. Here, have your sandwich first."

Em sighed, pulling at the lettuce poking out the side. "You are way too sensible, Ri. Clearly I have failed in my attempts to lead you astray."

"I hope you learn to eat some healthy greens when you are with child, Em," teased Ri.

"Mmgh," Em grumbled.

"Is something bothering you?" said Ri with quiet concern.

Em shrugged and kept her eyes fixed on the untouched sandwich in her hands.

"You can tell me anything, Em."

"It's um - it's about our kid."

Ri smiled. "I like the sound of that. Our child."

Em looked up at her painfully and her worries tumbled out. "Ri, I dunno if I can do it. I can't - I don't want to have a kid yet. I'm only seventeen. And I don't know if I can give him up. But I also can't bear the thought of hurting you. I want you to be a Mommy. I really do. I want us to be a family one day but I don't want to be alone for so long. I don't know what to do!"

Ri leaned over to drop a gentle kiss on Em's cheek. "Do you remember what you told me when I was worried about the curse? You said 'Try not to worry about it until it's your time'. You are not Emma yet."

Em sighed. "Yeah, I'll try."

The girls settled in comfortably and shared the picnic treats. After the chore of eating the healthy stuff was over, Em happily descended upon the desserts. The two girls ended up sharing all of the treats, licking and sucking chocolate or cream off of each other's sticky fingers or mouths and generally making a big mess of it.

When neither of them could eat another bite, Em laid back on the blanket and pulled Ri down next to her so that she could snuggle up against her.

"I'm so full," groaned Em.

Ri laid her palm on Em's lower stomach and smiled shyly. "Thankyou. For my baby."

"Yeah, the kid's gonna be in there one day isn't he? Gross." Em blushed out of embarrassment.

Ri frowned and poked the blonde's ribs playfully. "It is not gross, Em. It's beautiful."

"Nah, it's totally gross, I've seen it in movies. The kid's a nerd, bet he comes out with a big head. And goopy."

Ri grimaced slightly. "True. I saw a foal being born once. Father took me to the stables. It was the middle of the night, otherwise Mother would've forbidden it if she'd known."

"Eww childbirth! I am so freaked out. You totally owe me hot chocolates for the rest of my life, Ri."

Ri pursed her lips in a smile. "I suppose I could accommodate that. You are often cold, Em, and you do have a habit of forgetting your jacket. I'll just have to warm you up whenever you get cold."

"Yes you will."

"This is a little strange to me."

"What's strange? Apart from the whole thing."

"I always imagined that I'd be the one who had the babies. After I got married I mean. Mother says I should be married already at my age but somehow I still don't feel ready for all of that. I wasn't expecting to ever fall in love. And certainly not with a girl."

Em grinned. "Surprises are nice sometimes. I didn't think I'd ever have a kid. Now I'm gonna be your broodmare."

Ri rolled over on her elbow to hover above the girl who would one day be the mother of her child. Staring into Em's startling green eyes the whole time, she ran the back of her knuckles down the pale cheek and then switched to playing with little wisps of blonde hair that had escaped the other girl's messy ponytail.  _Sometimes he looks just like her..._

"What," whispered Em, wondering why she was being studied so intently.

_"_ You are so beautiful, Em."

Ri leaned in to kiss her deeply, and though neither of them knew it then, it would be the last such kiss for a long time.


	29. Gears of war

Regina was still at work at Town Hall when she got a text message from Emma that made her nearly drop the phone.

Emma Swan:  _Hey R (apple icon) (crown icon) (heart icon). I'm nearly finished at work. We have that meeting thingo tonight. What time do you want me to come and lick you up beforehand?_

The newly appointed Acting Mayor stared at the brazen message in shock. They had yet to explore that part of their relationship fully and even though the blonde often teased her with saucy jokes she was surprised that Emma would send such a thing. She was just about to reply in kind when another message came through.

Emma Swan:  _Pick! I meant 'pick'. DAMN YOU AUTOCORRECT._

Regina sighed and typed her reply.

_Whenever you're ready, Emma._

* * *

_Sheriff's station_

Later that evening when Emma returned with Regina, Mary Margaret swiftly intercepted them since the rest of the War Council was yet to arrive. It would be their first formal meeting since the breaking of the curse.

"Em and Ri are babysitting Henry tonight," Mary Margaret informed them.

Emma snorted. "By that you mean Henry's going to be stuffed full of cookies and then sent off to play while Em and Ri make out?"

"They're sensible girls." Mary Margaret amended that statement when she saw her daughter's eyebrows shoot up. "Oh fine! Ri is sensible enough for them both and at least Em knows not to put knives in toasters."

"Uh huh," Emma drawled. "Em is there to make sure Ri doesn't accidentally burn down the apartment... and Ri is there to make sure Em doesn't do it deliberately."

Regina narrowed her eyes at Mary Margaret suspiciously. "There's something else you're avoiding telling us."

"Um," the schoolteacher's eyes darted shiftily. "The girls spent the day at the stables because they wanted to spend some time together and to go riding and have a picnic and - okay, do you want the bad news first or the good news?"

"Bad." "Good." Emma and Regina answered in unison.

Mary Margaret blurted it all out in a rush and gestured wildly with her hands. "Ok-so-the-thing-is, I dropped them off this morning and I gave Em my spare phone again even though she never thinks to call me when she needs help but this time she actually did and so I was really surprised and I'm glad she did because when I got there Ri was injured and very upset. I had to take her to the hospital this afternoon."

"What!" cried Emma. "What happened? Is she okay? Did she fall off a horse?"

Regina frowned. "Surely she didn't get thrown. Even if she did choose the wildest horse there."

Mary Margaret sighed. "No. She wasn't hurt badly and she didn't fall. While Ri was in with the doctor, Em told me it happened when they were in the stables packing up and settling the horses back in. She said Ri was staring weirdly at some bloodstains on the walls like 'she recognised them'. It was an accident but Em thinks it was her fault and feels terrible."

Regina's lips parted in a tiny gasp and her fingertips flew to her scar.

Emma looked helplessly at her mother. "Seriously, I'm freaking out. Explain?"

"She got caught in the face by something made of metal, Em wasn't sure what it was, but Ri ended up with a laceration on her upper lip. She was bleeding a fair bit when I arrived so I thought it'd be best if we went to the hospital immediately. The plastic surgeon used dissolvable stitches after I said that she might not have access to post-operative care soon - just in case something happens and the girls have to go back where they came from. The doctor said it would heal well by itself but there would probably be a small scar."

Emma stared dumbstruck and then flicked her gaze to the woman at her side. "A scar. _Your scar?_ "

"I remember." Regina paused, thinking back to the distant past.

Emma's face flooded with realisation. "Wait a sec. Regina, if you got your scar when you were here... do you remember how you got it? Do you remember being Ri now?"

Regina shook her head slowly. "No. I do remember getting the scar, I was 18 years old, but that wasn't how it happened. Not exactly. It wasn't you."

Emma went to ask but the tense brunette sent her a severe "drop it" glare and wouldn't elaborate further.

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment (not currently on fire)_

"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSAAA!" Em called out and swung the sparkly wand in the air... but nothing happened of course.

Henry scrunched his face at her. "What's that."

Em shrugged. "I dunno. Some piece-o'-crap toy wand I stole from jerkface's shop."

"You stole from Mr Gold? You're brave." Henry looked impressed. "But you were saying the spell wrong. It's Levi-OH-sa."

"As if, kid. I was watching Harry Potter before you were even born," boasted Em, stepping up to tower over him so they were toe-to-toe. She pushed her thick black glasses back up her nose.

"I know what happens in the eh-end and you-oo doh-on't," sang Henry, tipping his head back to look up at her. "What book are you up to?"

"The latest one. Goblet," said Em. "I nicked it from the library."

Henry giggled. "That's not the latest one! Book seven has been out for years. Even the movies are finished."

Em's jaw dropped and held out her hands in a crazy manner. "Are you serious, kid? You mean I've been here all this time in the future, there's no flying cars, there's no hoverboards and I still haven't found out how Harry Potter ends? Hey, have you got the DVDs?"

Henry nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Do you wanna watch together?"

"YES. Go get them quick, run!"

After Henry scampered off to the bedroom to find his laptop and the discs, Em went to knock on the bathroom door.

"You ok, Ri?" said Em through the wooden door, picking at some of the peeling paint.

"Yes. You can come in," came the muffled voice.

Em swung the door open to see Ri standing at the sink, examining her wounded face in the mirror. She had a row of tiny stitches covered with a bit of white tape on her upper lip and underneath it the skin was reddened and slightly swollen. The injured teen had been fairly upset when it first happened and Em was thankful that for once she was able to get the kind of help for Ri that she usually didn't think to procure for herself.

Ri seemed to be dealing with it much better than Em expected, since she was sometimes overly concerned with her appearance. The importance of keeping her reputation and beauty intact until she was married had been drilled into her from an early age by her mother. Now she knew what it was to be loved for  _herself_ she wasn't as panicked over losing what she would've once thought was her only asset. But old habits were hard to break.

Em sighed. "Ri, come away from the mirror. It won't get better any faster by staring at it."

"It looks awful," moaned Ri.

Em caught her around the waist. "No it doesn't. Ok yeah, it's a bit scary now but it'll heal. Look at Regina, you can hardly see hers anymore. Plus it makes you look kinda badass."

Ri nodded straight-faced. "You're right. I am not to be messed with."

"You can punch me in the face if it'll make you feel better?" offered Em.

"Maybe some other time," teased Ri. "When you're really getting on my nerves."

"I wish I could kiss it better. Mary Margaret said not to for a little while because mouths are so germy."

"I don't know what that means."

"You know what happened to the sores on my back? It got infected and went all gross so I needed medicine."

"Oh. You mean when wounds crudesce?"

Em shrugged at the archaic medical term. "Dunno. I'm really sorry you got hurt, Ri. I should've taken better care of you."

"You do take good care of me, Em. It was an accident. In any case, I'd rather be scarred by you than be flawless for anyone else. We had such a lovely day together didn't we?"

Em turned Ri around and wrapped her arms around her from behind so that they could both see themselves in the mirror. She placed a kiss on her skin and pressed their cheeks together on Ri's uninjured side. They watched their reflections watch each other for a moment.

"Mirror mirror on the wall, my girlfriend Ri is the prettiest of them all. See how gorgeous you are?" murmured Em.

"We do look nice together," agreed Ri. "See how I'm looking at you right now, Em? I may not be able to kiss you but I'm imagining it."

The doorbell rang signalling the arrival of the pizzas.

"Magic's here!" said Em.

* * *

_Sheriff's station_

Standing in front of the blank-faced audience Emma swore she could hear crickets chirping, despite the fact that they were all friendly faces: Mary Margaret, David, Granny, Ruby, Leroy, the dwarves, Archie, and Marco. They were waiting expectantly, no doubt wondering what they hell they were doing there.

"Er hi, I'm Emma."

Ruby snorted. "Emma, it's not AA. We know who you are."

"Why don't you tell us why you called this meeting," suggested Archie.

"Right," Emma shook her head at herself. "So uh, some weird stuff's been happening in Storybrooke lately. I mean, weirder than the usual wraiths, giants, and sleazy one-handed pirates… Um I'm supposed to be some kinda Saviour but I don't know much about magical threats so I figured I'd ask you guys for help since you're like a War Council who got together to try to stop the curse, right?"

"We're  _Snow White's_  War Council," insisted Leroy with emphasis on the Royal name.

"Yeah and?" said Emma, confused.

" _And,_ " Mary Margaret sent Leroy a quelling look. "Emma is my daughter so your loyalty extends to her."

The grumpy dwarf shrugged. "Good enough for me. But your kid doesn't seem like much of a princess, Snow."

"Ok," sighed Emma. "So my plan is-"

"Excuse me," interrupted Marco in his thick-accented voice. "The curse is broken. That means we succeeded with our plans, no? To send the baby through the wardrobe to one day return and save us according to the prophecy. Why are we here now?"

"That's the thing," started Emma. "We're still here in Storybrooke instead of being sent-"

"Yeah, why  _are_  we still here?" said Leroy. "If the curse was really broken shouldn't we have gone back?"

Archie shook his head and pointed out, "Not necessarily. The curse brought us here and replaced everybody's memories with fake ones so that the happy endings would be forgotten. The prophecy predicted that the curse would be broken, not reversed. The plan succeeded in restoring our identities but there was no guarantee of returning to the Enchanted Forest."

"So how do we get back," persisted Leroy.

"Even if we were able to, it's an important decision as to whether we  _should_  go back," said Archie, who couldn't in good conscience ignore the distinct improvement in his quality of life since becoming human again.

Leroy scoffed. "What's hard about it. Either we go back or we don't."

Granny raised her eyebrows at the men. "Some of us have a lot to lose here."

Ruby barely looked up from flicking through her iPhone. "Sure do. If we go back I'm taking a sack full of condoms and tampons. Oh and a lifetime supply of chocolate. Can't live without that anymore."

"RUBY!" hissed Granny.

"What?" Ruby said defensively. "I'm just saying. The modern world has its perks. How are we supposed to go back to the  _olden times_  knowing about all that stuff now? Tampons and Instragram are the little things that make life worth living. I have a following you know, I can't just disappear offline forever. Oh and what about my car! I am so not leaving my baby behind."

Emma tried not to laugh. "Ok, we're getting a little off track here-"

"Why is the Blue Fairy not here? She may know something," said Marco with a shrug.

"We didn't hear back from her," replied David. "I called her twice."

Mary Margaret frowned. "Blue's not coming?"

Emma held up her hands and waved to try to get their attention. "Uh guys?-"

Leroy groaned and rubbed his grumbling stomach. "When is the food getting here? I'm starving."

Doc frowned at his fellow dwarf. "Don't be so grumpy, you will be fed eventually. You must learn to have some patience."

"GUYS!" said Emma exasperatedly, but they all kept talking over the top of her.

A ball of orange fire exploded with a loud whoosh in the middle of the room, drawing their attention immediately. The small fireball burned rapidly, taking out a pile of paperwork sitting on the desk where it'd been lobbed and leaving a pile of ash.

Now that they were silent, Regina cast a passive glare around the room. She had been standing against the bars of the cell with her arms crossed, watching the proceedings wordlessly thus far.

"It amazes me how you people ever managed to coordinate yourselves long enough to accomplish anything, let alone formulate a plan to break the 'curse to end all curses'."

"What is she doing here?" hissed Leroy. "You're on the wrong side of the bars there, sister."

"If you would all shut up for five minutes perhaps Miss Swan would get the chance to tell you why we're here," said Regina.

Leroy replied in a 'duh' voice. "This is Snow White's War Council... you know, the heroes that ruined your evil plans? It's a meeting of the good guys and so by definition it can't include  _you_."

"Believe me, I'd rather be elsewhere right now," said Regina dryly.

"The door's over there," said Leroy.

"Guys, pleeease," moaned Emma. "I'll vouch for Regina, ok? She's on our side now and we need her help."

"We need magical expertise. Would you rather we invited Mr Gold, Leroy?" said Mary Margaret.

Leroy turned around in his chair. "So now we've got the Evil Queen and the Saviour leading us, or are they both vying for the top job? Whose orders are we supposed to follow? Is this going to be like Game of Thrones... cos I'd watch the hell out of  _that_."

David smacked the dwarf up the back of the head causing his beanie to fall off. "Behave! That's my daughter you're talking about."

Emma hit the desk with a thud as she slumped forward with her head in her arms.  _The fairytale characters are useless!_

* * *

"Em Swan. Henry Mills. What are you doing!"

The two of them froze like deers in headlights at Ri scolding them with her hands on her hips, looking every bit the commanding Queen she would one day be. The effect was somewhat diminished though since nobody could pose a serious threat in those adorable Snoopy pyjamas.

"Uh nothing," said Em innocently, licking chocolate off her mouth. She was in pyjamas as well - bought for her by Mary Margaret since Emma was running of out clothes too fast by having to share her limited wardrobe with the teen. The pink bottoms were printed with chocolate chips and the black top rather appropriately read: 'Come to the dark side... we have cookies'.

Ri lowered a stern brow. "Get out of the desserts, you naughty things! You haven't had your dinner yet. Em, stop teaching him bad habits. Henry, sweetie, dessert comes  _after_ dinner not before."

Em snorted. "He knows that. We just conveniently decided to ignore that rule, didn't we kid?"

Ri brought the pizza box over and handed the others some plates. "Here, have some of this tomato-cheese pie."

Em groaned and shook her head at Henry. "She's like a martian sometimes isn't she? It's called a pizza, Ri."

Ri joined them on the couch so that the boy was between them and the three of them were sitting hip-to-hip-to-hip. Henry and Em got stuck into their slices of pizza with their hands but poor Ri was slowed down by having to cut hers up into pieces and bite them off a fork to avoid her wound.

"Is it still really sore, Ri?" said Henry.

Ri smiled gently. "Not very. Thankfully it doesn't hurt to talk or smile. Or laugh."

"Lucky for me," said Em around a mouthful of pizza. "Cos I don't think I could stop being hilarious."

Ri rolled her eyes and shared a knowing look with Henry. "She thinks she's funnier than she is."

"Start the movie, kid," said Em excitedly. "I'm dying to know how it ends! I wanna know if Harry defeats Voldemort."

"Duh, the good guys always win," said Henry. "Everybody knows that. Otherwise it's not the end of the story."

"Is this another one of those moving picture stories?" asked Ri.

"Yup. It's about a magical orphan with glasses... like me!" said Em.

"And me," Henry chimed in.

Em shot the kid a disbelieving look. "You're not magical. You don't have glasses. You're not even an orphan."

"I do too have magic!" Henry pouted. "You're not really an orphan either, Em. You've found your parents."

The DVD menu appeared on the laptop screen and the distinctive theme music sounded from the speakers.

Em whipped out the toy wand and pointed it at Henry. "SILENCIO! No more spoilers. Press play, kid!"

* * *

"Who's behind this, " asked Granny. "Do we know?

Emma and Regina exchanged a quick glance, unwilling to let the others in on what they suspected. Everything started when the teenagers arrived and even though Henry may not have made his wish they knew he was involved somehow. Protecting the kids was their primary motivation and the Council didn't need to know about that yet.

"We're not sure who's involved," said Mary Margaret vaguely. "We don't even know that it was done with malicious intent."

"There's a limited number of people in town who have access to magic," said David.

"That we know of," Mary Margaret pointed out. "So there's only a few people who could have done this."

Leroy snorted. "Obviously it was one of the resident evils."

"The bad guys"... "The Queen"… "Rumpelstiltzskin"… "One of them for sure!" suggested the other dwarves in succession.

"For the last time, it wasn't Regina," muttered Emma.

Mary Margaret nodded in agreement. "Mr Gold won't help us unless it suits him and if the Blue Fairy knows anything about it she's not saying."

"So what happens when the border shrinks?" asked Ruby anxiously. "We lose our memories? It's going to be very bad at the next full moon if I don't remember that I'm a werewolf."

"We're not going to let that happen, Ruby," promised David. "We will figure this out."

"But what if you can't fix it in time? You'll have to lock me up."

"No," Emma said firmly. "I'm Sheriff and I am not imprisoning innocent people preemptively. Not unless there's a clear threat of danger."

"How long do we have to figure this out?" asked Granny.

Emma unrolled a poster map of Storybrooke and spread it out across the table. She only had to raise her eyes at Regina for her to come over and magically illuminate the map, showing the current position of the border. Regina held her palm above the poster, which began to glow with two concentric rings: a fixed orange outer one and a wavering yellow one inside it.

"The original position of the town line is marked on the map here in orange. The first people to lose their memories on the highway near the Leaving Storybrooke sign were Tom and Belle."

"What memories?" said Tom/Sneezy, confused.

"Nevermind, Snotty," muttered Leroy.

Emma placed her index finger on the map, indicating a section of the woods where the school field trip had taken place. "According to the teacher, this is where the four schoolkids lost their memories... and here," she traced her finger back down the highway, "is where Doc lost his memories approximately one hundred yards from the sign."

"Who's Doc?" said Francois/Doc blankly. "If you're referring to moi, I prefer to be addressed as Doctor Dupont."

"Shut up, Doc," said Leroy exasperatedly. "Go on, kiddo."

Emma gestured to the flickering bright yellow light that formed a jaggedly uneven ring around the town. "Currently the border is at least five miles closer to us from its original position at the town line... but we don't think it's moving at a constant rate. If it's accelerating in fits and starts then we can't predict how long it could take to reach the actual town."

"Take a wild guess," suggested Granny wryly. "Even if it's a bad one."

Emma exchanged a wary look with Regina before answering. "We think this started between two and four weeks ago... so we may have a few more weeks."

"Or only a few days," Archie put in soberly. "Magic is like a rebellious teenager... once it's out in the world on it's own, it doesn't necessarily do what you tell it."

Mary Margaret cocked her head at the wording. "Magic acts as though it has a mind of its own? An underdeveloped risk-seeking emotionally-immature mind?"

"Magic can think?" said Leroy. "Great."

"It can," said Granny. "I heard it depends on how powerful its creator is or on how much control they have over their own power."

"Sooo say if this magic spell, curse, whatever, was cast by someone untrained," said Emma casually. "That person might not have full control over what they cast?"

Regina nodded stiffly. "Yes. Magic is not to be trifled with. Sometimes it lasts longer than you know, past what can be seen. Be careful of the darkness you unleash, lest it turn and head straight for you."

"Well that's cheery," said Leroy sarcastically.

"But what can we do?" asked Marco. "I don't want to forget my boy."

"We're working on it," said Emma lamely, feeling rather inadequate that they didn't have more of a plan of action. She could feel them all staring at her, looking to her for a solution, when she didn't have one to give.

Thankfully Mary Margaret jumped in to help her out. "For now, we need you all to help us keep an eye on things. We're monitoring the border's progress but it is important that nobody goes near it. Especially the people of Storybrooke outside this room. We need to keep this under wraps for now."

David nodded in agreement. "We don't want another situation like when the curse first broke, with people panicking and deliberately heading for the border."

A loud knocking came from the front of the station and the tension immediately dissipated.

"Food's here!" declared Leroy happily.

The dwarves, Marco, Ruby and Granny all got up to follow David, who was going to pay, and help collect the delivery.

Once most of the room had cleared out, Emma slumped in her chair exhausted and laid her forehead onto the cool table. She really wasn't cut out for this.

"Emma honey, you did very well," said Mary Margaret softly, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

"Mmgh," came the sullen response.

"It could've been worse," said Regina, leaning her hip against the desk and folding her arms. "Nobody died."

"They're right," groaned Emma, muffled into her sleeve. "I'm so not princess material. I still can't believe they made me Sheriff. I'm not a leader, I'm not like you guys."

"We don't want you to be anyone but yourself," said Mary Margaret kindly.

Emma raised her head to give her a sarcastic face. "Come on, Mom. Before the curse, before I was born, you didn't expect me to be  _me_. You were picturing your daughter dressing up for fancy balls and wearing tiaras and marrying a prince. You know, the _princess_  stuff..."

"Emma." The pixie haired brunette's eyes twinkled. "I'm a princess and I lived in the woods for months with nobody but woodland creatures for company. By the end of it, I had enough twigs in my hair to build a campfire and I'm pretty sure my cape went mouldy. Regina was born a princess too and as a former queen, I'm sure she can tell you the truth about the 'stuff'."

Regina's lips twitched. "Yes, it's highly overrated. Balls are insufferably tedious and full of either simpering flirts or sleazy drunkards, tiaras never seem to sit right, and as for marrying a prince, not many of them are worthy of being called charming..." she let her words trail off tellingly.

"Yeah yeah, I get your point," said Emma begrudgingly. "I don't want any of that."

Mary Margaret stage-whispered over her daughter's head. "Regina, can you imagine us trying to wrangle Em into a ballgown?"

"With or without threats of violence?" said Regina dryly.

"Duct tape might be enough. Definitely a gag to stop her complaining."

Emma groaned again. "I'm so screwed! Since when do Snow White and the Evil Queen team up to torture me?"

Archie headed over to them, from where he'd been observing for some time, smiling mildly. "So, how much of the story did you leave out, Emma. How did this really start?"


	30. Knowledge

"So all of this started when your younger selves appeared in Storybrooke?" Archie tilted his head and tapped a finger on his chin as he studied Emma like she was one of his patients. "Hm, and how has that been working out for everyone?"

"Uh they're teenage girls so they're," Emma rolled her eyes, "insanely dramatic. All of us are living in the one tiny apartment so it's been kinda crowded."

Archie nodded slowly. "What about interacting with your younger self... has it offered you some perspective on your past or on the choices that led to you being where you are now, the person you have become?"

"I... guess so?" Emma shrugged. "Em's annoying."

"Is it just you? Or does she annoy the others as well."

"No, she gets along fine with Regina. Both of them."

"Why do you think that is?" said Archie, his tone suggesting that she ought to be able to figure the answer out for herself.

"Um-"

"Haven't we got enough  _shrinking_ to be dealing with, Dr Hopper," interrupted Regina impatiently. "Instead of trying to psychoanalyse Emma and her not-so-inner child?"

"Hey, Archie." Wide-eyed Ruby came over to grab his sleeve. "You totally gotta see the girls. They're like mini versions of Emma and Regina. It's hilarious!"

Mary Margaret giggled. "They're not physically smaller, Ruby, just younger in age."

"They are so CUTE together. Oh my god it's the sweetest little teen romance you've ever seen."

Archie raised his eyebrows interestedly, eyes darting to Emma first and then Regina. " _Oh._  The girls are in a romantic relationship?"

"Only since the first second they met," said Ruby flirtatiously. "Apparently it was love at first sight."

"Do they know about Henry?" Archie asked shrewdly.

"Not at first," said Emma. "But they do now."

"They got into a fight about who Henry belonged to but they've made up now that they both know he's their son," said Mary Margaret.

"That's interesting," mused Archie.

" _Why_  is it interesting," said Regina flatly, piercing the psychiatrist with her stare.

Emma could hear the crickets chirping in the awkward silence again. "Okayyy, maybe we should um get some food-"

Regina disappeared out of the office, obviously having had enough of the scrutiny, and Emma ducked out after her. She was halfway down the hallway, heels clicking on the cheap lino, when Emma called out.

"Regina, wait!"

Regina stopped and faced her with a disconcertingly blank expression when Emma caught up to her. "They know about us."

Emma tried to keep her reaction neutral. "Okay. Maybe they do. Is that going to be a problem?"

"What are you asking me for. Do you think we have a problem here?"

"Regina. I  _know_ , ok? I get it. It isn't easy. I know you're freaking out but just... don't freak out ok? It's gonna be fine."

"I destroyed a realm to get my happy ending, Emma. I don't care if there are rumours about us among the rabble. But this could affect Henry, not to mention my chances of re-election."

Emma spoke softly. "We haven't been together very long. It's new. We'll explain it to Henry. We don't have to tell anyone else right away. But we can't keep it a secret forever, people are gonna find out eventually and they're gonna... react. You haven't had a relationship with a woman before have you."

"I haven't had a relationship at all," Regina said defensively. "I never got to be with - to be  _with_  - him. We had to sneak around in secret just to see each other."

Emma felt a wave of sympathy rush over her at that. The last time Regina had been in love it was the  _people finding out about it_ aspect of it that'd led to Daniel's death and her heartbreak. She'd never even gotten to experience fully being with him and then she'd spent years in a loveless marriage lived in the public eye. No wonder she was wary about their relationship becoming common knowledge.

"Why haven't we had sex yet," Regina demanded suddenly.

Emma felt like the question physically knocked her backwards. "Woah. Where did that come from?"

"Why are you holding back? Are you having regrets already, because if you are- "

"No," Emma broke in. "The reason I'm holding back is  _because_  I don't want us to regret it. Em and Ri got into trouble by going there too soon. I don't want that to happen to us. I'm holding back because of  _you_."

Regina's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Excuse me."

"No. No. Wait," Emma sighed nervously, wishing she could explain herself properly. "Ugh, it's like my brain stops working when I'm around you. Please let me explain. Don't start thinking it's because I don't want you... cos I do. Trust me, I really  _really_  do. But last year, we were fighting all the time and you freaked out when all we did was kiss. I don't want you to regret this. I want this to be good for you. I want this to be  _it._  For both of us."

"Oh."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "That's what you're going with? You'd better give me more than that to go on when we're in bed together. Since I'm basically going to be running the show myself."

"What do you mean by that? I'm hardly a virgin. I know more than you apparently think I do."

"Reeeeally, so you've been doing some research have you?" Emma's face turned into shock. "Oh my god, it was YOU wasn't it? I found that stuff in Henry's internet history ages ago. I thought his friends might've been sending him dodgy links."

"That wasn't me," Regina denied quickly.

"Oh you are LYING." Emma laughed at the delicious secret she'd unearthed. "You covered your tracks fairly well, I admit. Henry wouldn't have found it but you can't hide from me. I can find anything."

"I know things the internet doesn't. I'm going to destroy you."

"Oh we are so blowing off the rest of this meeting to investigate that statement."

"I'd happily comply but you were the one who called this meeting, Emma. Think of it as payback for all of the whining you've done about having to sit through my meetings."

"I don't even know why you kept dragging me to those! They were boring as hell and nothing to do with the Sheriff's office anyway."

"I know," said Regina haughtily. "Perhaps I just wanted something pretty to look at. Office art."

"You had me turn up so that you could ogle me? Why do I not believe you. Please continue to objectify me though."

"You don't believe me? What about the time I dropped my fountain pen under the table hm?" Regina whispered, playing with the collar of Emma's shirt.

"You ah- you brushed your hand down my calf. It was totally an accident right?" Emma closed her eyes. "You drove me crazy you know. You acted like it never happened and I thought I just imagined it."

"Do you think you're imagining this?" Regina leaned in to press her lips to the curve where Emma's neck met her shoulder.

"Fuck I hope not. Or I'll cry."

"Emma," chided Regina in a low voice. "Are you going to kiss me with that dirty mouth?"

She'd barely gotten the words out before Emma's mouth descended on hers to claim a possessive kiss and for a few minutes they entirely forgot where they were.

_"Ahem, girls?"_

A stern voice came from down the hall caused them to break apart reluctantly.

"We're starting up again," said David, regarding them stonily. "Are you coming?"

* * *

The Council meeting was continuing to discuss the threats and fate of Storybrooke over dinner, although the conversations were wandering all over the place mostly off-topic. Emma was thankful that she didn't have to take the leading role anymore, so she was sitting off to the side with Regina while they ate from takeaway containers.

"Emma, do your parents know?" murmured Regina.

"David does now," Emma said grimly. Given his reaction to seeing them wrapped up in each other, she was not looking forward to  _that_  conversation. "Mary Margaret's known I had feelings for you for a while. I know she's probably the last person you'd want to find out about us, but I had no-one else to talk to. She saw us at the station the other day when she came to offer you the job, so I'd say she definitely knows we're together now."

"Excellent."

Emma was shocked. "Huh? You're not mad that they know?"

Regina grinned evilly. "On the contrary, I hope it tortures them to imagine all of the things I'm going to do to their daughter."

"It's certainly torturing  _me_  to only imagine them," grumbled Emma.

Regina leaned in to whisper a few ideas in her ear, but when she noticed Archie heading towards them she sat back with a glare.

"Hey Archie," said Emma politely.

Archie dragged a chair over near them. "Hi, you two. Sorry to interrupt."

"We're used to it," said Regina in a fake bright voice.

"Living in an apartment with five other people, I'm sure you are." Archie chuckled and then lowered his voice seriously. "Listen, I wanted to reassure the both of you that you can count on me for discretion. I understand that your situation may be sensitive. You can trust me."

"Thanks," Emma exhaled. "We don't want everyone to know yet, not before we tell Henry at least."

"Of course," Archie nodded with a smile. "May I say how wonderful it is to see you both happy. Especially you, Regina."

Regina immediately prickled defensively. "Why is that. Do you think I'm less likely to kill you in this state?"

The psychiatrist simply shook his head. "No. I take an interest in my former patients and their families. Henry is a favourite of mine. I'm particularly sorry about what happened to you this year, that you were under suspicion for my apparent 'death' and it damaged your personal progress. In a way, I feel responsible for not being able to help you more. My condolences for your mother."

When Regina lowered her eyes, Emma snaked her hand under the table to thread their hands together as an unspoken apology for not trusting her back then. She was all too conscious that her actions - or rather, the lack of them - had encouraged a cornered and vulnerable Regina back into her Mother's controlling arms. She vowed to never let her down in that way again. Emma remembered holding Regina, sobbing and distraught, in her arms mere weeks ago and realised that Archie was probably the only one who had bothered to say 'sorry for your loss' to her. No matter what Cora had done, Regina still loved her mother and grieved her loss.

"Dr Hopper, I'd appreciate it if you would continue seeing Henry," Regina was saying. "Not necessarily for therapy, but he has few friends. You're important to him."

"I'd like that very much."

Emma smiled happily at Regina. "Yeah, he's a good kid isn't he. Apart from being a truant and a credit card thief."

"I never encouraged that behaviour. Those unfortunate traits must be genetic," said Regina.

"You and your son may not be genetically related, Regina, but he's very like you." Archie caught the brunette's frown and nodded. "Yes, he is. As evil or damaged as you ever were, or think yourself to still be, you raised him to be good. You couldn't have done that if there were no goodness within you."

"Wait till you meet Ri, Archie," said Emma wryly. "She's so sweet she'll rot your teeth."

"Archie! If you want some food you better get over here," Ruby called him from across the office, gesturing at him to join her.

"Just a second, Ruby," Archie called back. "One more thing, Regina. This may be an unpopular opinion but from a purely selfish standpoint I for one am glad you cast the curse."

"What?" said Regina, obviously taken aback.

"I'm a conscience. My life's work is to help people find their way. But my parents were cruel and conniving, I couldn't escape their control until I made a wish that changed my life. But the price of that magic was living in the form of a cricket. Here," Archie raised his eyebrows. "I get to do what I love  _and_  be myself. So thankyou for that. You have more supporters than you know."

"I in no way intended that," said Regina stubbornly. "If the curse has brought anyone happiness it was an unwanted side effect."

Archie merely shrugged in a 'there you have it' kind of way and got up to join Ruby at the food table.

* * *

"I'm so glad that's over," groaned Emma, rolling her head to release the tension in her neck.

The others had already left the station after the War Council meeting/social event finally wound down. Emma was waiting with Regina and her parents to do a quick tidyup before they could head home. She and Mary Margaret pushed all of the desks back into their original positions in the office with Regina 'supervising' the manual labour from her perch on the Sheriff's desk.

"Ready to go, David?" said Mary Margaret, seeing her husband return from taking out the trashbags.

"Yeah, you guys go ahead for a minute. I want to talk to Regina," said David. "Alone."

Emma jumped in quickly. "No way."

"I want to know what this thing is between you two."

"Oh no, David, don't," moaned Mary Margaret.

"I understand that you're just worried about me-" said Emma, trying to derail where this disaster train was heading.

"No, dear. It's fine," said Regina with a saccharine smile. "Let your father air his grievances against me."

"I hardly need to list them, Regina," drawled David. "We could be here all night."

"Indeed. Then let's none of us waste our breath by having this conversation."

"Interesting choice of words. Considering I was on my last one when the curse came. You know what's the last thing I remember, Regina? Fighting your guards with my daughter in my arms. She was minutes old. Yet she wouldn't have even been in danger if not for you and your threats against her mother."

Regina rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Yes, let's all take a moment to appreciate the precious irony of this love story."

"Love? Is that what this is?"

"I am not going to justify myself to you."

David's voice rose. "And I am  _not_ going to let you hurt my daughter again! You were prepared to cast a spell on your own son to make him love you, how do I know this is real?"

"Because your wife is still alive," Regina pointed out with a sneer. "That spell requires the heart of the one I hate most. She seems in good health to me."

"Stop!" cried Emma, grabbing her father's sleeve to pull him back preemptively. "Just stop, please. We're getting nowhere with this, we're circling the drain fighting about who's most to blame for the past. This isn't helpful. We are stuck in this crappy situation but arguing isn't going to stop the border shrinking and it isn't going to bring people's memories back. Yes, we're only here because of the Evil Queen...

"A-and I love her, ok? I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd react like this."

David flinched at Emma's confession but he let her go on uninterrupted.

"If there's one thing we all should've learned from having Em and Ri around is that both of them had a crappy childhood and some of that is what made us who we are now. Who knows why Regina ended up Evil and I ended up Good? Those roles were assigned to us before we were even born by Rumpelstiltzskin. What if it had've been the other way around? Would you still love me if I'd been the Evil Princess instead?-"

"Of course we would," said David fiercely.

"-Why does anyone turn out bad? Do they start off vulnerable or do they have bad things happen to them along the way? Maybe some people are stronger than others and maybe some people get less help than they need. Not a single person ever helped me in my entire life... but I never had an evil genius mastermind whispering in my ear, twisting the fuck out of my mind, either.

"So," Emma paused for her first breath. "What I want is for my son to grow up in a better world than I did, to have a better chance than either of his mothers had. We can't give him that if his family is fighting all the time. I trust Regina... and that has to be good enough for you."

David nodded slowly, shooting glances at Regina while he considered his daughter's words and her staunch defense of the woman she obviously loved.

"It is enough. That's all I wanted to know." David turned to Regina. "I hope for all our sakes that you really have changed. You have two good reasons to make it work now. Take care of my daughter."

"Or else I'll be burned at the stake? Yes, thank you, Charming, I understand your meaning perfectly," said Regina, with a glare.

"No, actually you don't. It wasn't a threat, Regina. All I'm  _asking_  is that you to take care of her."

David turned back to Emma and raised his eyebrows sternly and pointed at her in that characteristic parental manner. "The same goes for you, young lady."

"Huh what?" said Emma, confused by how this had been turned around on her.

It was Mary Margaret's turn to fold her arms and pin a look on her daughter. "Emma, have you even taken her on a date yet?"

Emma gaped open-mouthed. "Ah I - "

David surreptitiously sent his wife a wink and started to lecture his daughter. "Open doors for her, buy her flowers, turn up on time - don't look at me like that, Emma, I know you - ask her questions, compliment her dress, and don't forget-"

"Chivalry is not dead," finished Mary Margaret primly. "Make sure you treat her like royalty."

Emma blinked and saw that Regina was also struck dumb by whatever joke was being played on them. "Ohhh... wow. Dating advice from the Dark Ages. Thanks parents, that's actually really really annoying of you."

David reached over to pat Emma's head. "Anytime. It's your mother's fault. She never told me we were having a girl so I had the boy's speech all planned out. I didn't want it to go to waste. Guess it came in handy anyway."

"Oh god, kill me," groaned Emma, peeking out between her hands. "My parents are so embarrassing!"

"Don't look at me," said Regina in a dry tone. "I tried to get rid of them for you."

Mary Margaret watched the two of them interact with a gleam of mischief in her eye. "Actually, Regina, David and I have you to thank for our love story. We met by chance in the woods and I wouldn't have even been there if you hadn't banished me from the kingdom. No matter how hard you tried to destroy our True Love, we only found each other because of you."

"Oh. my. god. Would you just  _stop_!" Emma said in slow horror. "Are you  _trying_  to get yourselves killed? She looks like she's gonna vomit."

Regina merely stared complacently at the Charmings, looking indeed as though she had a bad taste in her mouth. "I suppose I'll just have to exact my revenge through your first born child."

Emma's eyes widened at the depth of Regina's sultry voice, especially since it was laced with pure lust and the thought of just what that revenge would be sent a shiver racing up her spine. Regina pursed her lips for a second. Then quick as a flash she grabbed Emma's face from the side, flicked out her tongue and licked up the pale skin from chin to cheekbone.

_Oh god oh god oh god._  Emma froze in shock. She was left feeling flushed all over. That was...  _oh, hell yes_... but what was Regina thinking doing that in front of her parents! _Are all families this insane or is it just mine?_  she wondered.

"Very funny, Regina," groused David.

"GO. Get out of here, you two," Mary Margaret said in wry amusement.

Regina's glorious smile declared her victory and she slid her hand into Emma's. "Come, dear. We're leaving."


	31. Sweet dreams

Mary Margaret's heart melted at what she and her husband saw when they got home from the meeting. She whipped out her phone to take a quick photo before the kids noticed.

Em and Ri were sitting on the couch wearing pyjamas and both still had damp hair from earlier showers. Henry was squished between them and all three kids had their feet resting on the coffee table where the laptop and a pile of DVD boxes sat. They must have had a movie marathon and stayed up all night. It was late now and there was more than one pair of droopy eyelids fighting to stay awake until the end credits.

"Hi, you three," Mary Margaret whispered. "We're home."

"Did you figure it out yet?" Henry asked sleepily, referring to the agenda of the Council meeting. His movement bumped Em, who had her head on his shoulder.

"Not yet." Mary Margaret pulled the sleepy boy to his feet. "Go brush your teeth quickly before bed."

"Where's Regina and Emma?" said Em, rubbing her fist into her eye underneath her glasses.

"It's getting a little crowded here, so they're staying at Regina's house tonight," said David. He started clearing the kids' pizza boxes and plates away.

"Ha! Yeah right, crowded. They just wanted some  _alone time_." Em made air-quotes with a huge grin. "I oughta go over there and bust things up as payback."

Ri sat up and yawned. "What are you going on about, Em?"

The blonde teen clapped one hand against the other in the air. "I can't give Emma a high-five so I'll just give myself one. Go me!"

Mary Margaret and David stifled laughs.

"Oh!" Ri blushed. "You mean they're having sex?"

"I'll tell you when you're older, Ri," Em laughed and hid her reddened face in the back of the couch.

"Stop teasing her, you," said David, jostling his daughter's shoulder playfully.

"Ri, come into the bathroom for a minute," said Mary Margaret. She grabbed a paper bag from her handbag and led the pyjama-clad brunette away.

"Finished!" Henry jumped up from nowhere and dove over Em's lap.

"Oof! Watch it, kid. You're heavy." Em complained.

David pulled out the blankets and pillow and ordered the kids to get off the couch so he could make it up into a bed for Henry. When he was done, he tucked Henry in and the boy fell asleep almost immediately.

"Em?" whispered David, taking her elbow. "Regina's not here to conjure the beds so you're sleeping with Ri in Emma's bedroom.  _But,_ " he raised his eyebrows sternly. "No funny business ok? You are to sleep. Be careful of her injury."

"Yep." Em nodded readily, fully aware yet surprised that she was actually being trusted for the first time ever. "I'll take care of her. Always. Um thanks. Dad."

* * *

"Let's have a look at your stitches, honey."

Mary Margaret sat Ri on the edge of the bath and tilted her head back into better light. "It's looking good. Do you feel ok?"

"It's sore now," said Ri, frowning. "Is that bad?"

"No, it's just the local anaesthetic wearing off."

Mary Margaret opened the pack of pills she'd brought from the pharmacy and filled a glass of water from the sink. "Here, take this. It'll stop it hurting for a little while and let you sleep better."

"What's that green liquid." Ri eyed the bottle the older woman held.

"Swish your mouth with this, it'll keep the wound clean so you don't get sick. Don't swallow it."

When Ri finished at the sink, she raised her eyes to search her reflection in the mirror on the wall above.

"You're very kind to me," said Ri. "I love her, but I don't know that my mother would coddle me like this. Em is lucky."

Mary Margaret squeezed the teen's shoulders gently. "Well, as long as you're here I'll take care of you."

"Why are you doing this? Why are you always kind to me when I tried to kill you several times." Ri's eyes in the mirror were serious and dark.

"Everyone deserves kindness, especially those who are in pain. Regina has reason to feel more of it than most."

"Please forgive her," Ri begged softly. "If she truly wanted you dead, you would be."

Mary Margaret pressed a kiss to Ri's forehead. "I know, honey. I call you that because you're so sweet."

Ri ran her hand down a pale cheek. "I always wanted to meet you, Princess Snow White. You are what they say."

"Our history will be complicated, Ri, both in the past and in the future. You may not remember, but I hope you know that I'm always on your side. Others may give up on you, but I never will."

Ri's smile was knowing and mature, and for a flicker of a second she looked exactly like her older self. "She loved you once. If you were ever in her heart you're still there."

Mary Margaret smiled and then shooed her out the door. "For now I get to be the boss so it's off to bed with you. Goodnight."

* * *

Ri crept into the bedroom carefully since the lights were already off. In the dim light she could see that Em was in bed so she lifted the covers and slipped in next to her quietly in case she was already asleep.

"Mmm Ri s'at you?" Em slurred.

Ri whispered back. "It's me. Sorry I woke you."

"S'ok. Not asleep yet. Waiting for you to say g'night."

Em rolled over so that the two girls were facing each other when Ri laid down and settled under the blankets.

Ri said softly. "Hi."

"Hi yourself."

"Go to sleep."

"No. You first. Why don't  _you_  go to sleep," Em whispered playfully.

Ri giggled and they lay silent for a few minutes until she reached out for Em's hand to hold. "This is nice isn't it."

"Yeah. I love being close to you."

"Me too. How do you think they're going?"

Em let out a laugh and then shushed herself in case the sound carried in the small apartment. "I'm sure it's fine, Ri. They know what they're doing."

"Em, can you tell me? What is it like to have sex?"

Em sighed. "Oh no, don't ask me that. It's not a great story. I know you're a romantic little sap and you've got your heart set on first love but it's not always like that in the real world. I don't want to tell you and put you off it. Life's not like a fairytale."

"I can take the truth. But only if you don't mind telling."

"Alright um..." The covers rustled as Em fidgeted. "I slept with a guy from my school last year, Dean Chase. He was a few years older and I knew him cos he was friends with my foster brother. We weren't boyfriend and girlfriend or anything but I liked him. We hung out a few times. It just kinda happened. I don't know what I expected but I was a bit disappointed by the whole thing. He was cool about it though."

"Oh." Ri was a little confused. "I thought you liked girls."

"I do. I know for sure now. At first I thought it wasn't good with Dean cos I didn't like him enough or cos I wasn't very good at it, but it wasn't that. It didn't feel right."

"Have you had sex with a girl too? Is it better?"

"I dunno. I haven't gone that far with a girl."

Ri tried to sound casual but she didn't quite succeed in keeping the hurt out of her voice. "Was there someone else before me?"

"No, not like you," said Em softly. "But there was a girl who went to the same church as us. This was the second last foster home I was in. I had a crush on her. My foster brother walked in on us one day and he told his parents. They were super religious so I got kicked out and put back into the system. That's how I ended up living with the Hendersons, the meth-heads who used to use me as an ashtray before I ran away for the last time. I was just a meal ticket to them anyway. So glad I'm done with all that crap, now I can just be me and take care of myself."

"I'm glad you are too. I'm sorry you had to go through all that alone."

"Nah I'm alright. Tougher than I look."

"So I've heard. You're a 'karate in blackbelt'." Ri giggled, remembering the first thing Em had ever said to her.

Em laughed at herself. "Yeah. Something like that."

"Now seriously, Em. I know you're really strong and independent but you don't have to be so stoic with me. Let me take care of you sometimes. You can trust me with anything. What happened with the other girl?"

Em nodded and bit her lips together before deciding to go on. "I really liked her. After we got caught, her parents wouldn't let me see her. My foster parents went off their heads at me when they found out. They called me disgusting and said I was going to hell and all this other bullshit. I heard that Melanie was sent away to some Catholic boarding school interstate so they could 'fix her'. I don't see how it's a sin to love somebody. How can it be wrong what we feel for each other, Ri?"

"I don't think it's wrong, do you? I don't understand this world sometimes."

"Me either." Em laid onto her back and stared at the ceiling. "My foster dad lectured me for hours. He said there was something wrong with me and that's why nobody wanted me and it was obvious why my parents gave me away. He said it was no wonder that I turned out bad. I was afraid that it was true. I know I get into trouble a lot and I'm not a great kid. But I don't think my real parents mind. I thought they would try to keep us apart but it seems like they're ok with it now."

"Your parents must love you a lot, Em, if they're willing to put aside the past and give their support to Emma and Regina after everything she's done. You're happy you've found them aren't you?"

"Yeah." Em smiled in the dark. "When I was little I used to dream that my parents were looking for me and that one day they'd find me. I used to make up stories about them, that they hadn't really wanted to give me away, that they'd been forced to or that they'd lost me by accident. As I got older I realised it probably wasn't true. I told myself they must've been druggies or criminals or nutjobs and I was so angry at them for not being good enough to keep me. But since I came here I found out that the truth is even better than my dreams. I have a Mom and Dad and they wanted me. They love me."

"Of course they do, sweetheart. How could they not?" Ri had tears in her eyes at Em's words. She laid her head on Em's shoulder and hugged her close.

"What about you?" asked Em. "What would your parents think about you being with me?"

"I don't think they would like it. You know where I'm from and what happened to the poor stable boy in the book," said Ri sadly. "Daddy might be fine with it as long as I was happy but Mother definitely wouldn't approve and he never gainsays her. She has very strict ideas about what I'm supposed to do with my life. All she ever talks to me about is my getting married and making a good political match for the family. Sometimes I think she only lets me ride because it's proper for a lady to know how, but she doesn't like it when I practice jumps or race Rocinante. She says I should ride sidesaddle like a proper lady, but it's so awkward and it can be injurious to the animal. I'd never want to hurt Rocinante. But she doesn't care! So I try to ride when she's busy or away. I've never been able to stand up to her. She cares too much about reputation and image. Who knows what the people there would've said about us? I guess we'll never know."

They lay together quiet for a while and Em had almost drifted off to sleep when Ri whispered something to her.

"I think you're my True Love, Em."

Em mumbled back sleepily. "I want to be. But you said that in the book the stable boy was your True Love. How can it be both?"

"I don't know. Regina may have loved the stable boy but I've never even met him. All I know is I feel complete with you and I can't imagine being without you. I've waited my whole life to feel like this. It is you, I know it. I used to read stories when I was little and imagine that my True Love would come for me and we'd be together forever. Of course back then I was imagining more of a knight in shining armor riding up on a golden horse to take me away."

"Yeah sorry about that. No armor, no horse," said Em. "I suck at riding but I can drive stick. Does that impress you?"

"I think it's like you said before - reality turned out to be even better than I dreamed. We're two princesses who fell in love with each other instead of who they said we should. I wonder how our story ends?"

Em snorted. "With lots of  _happy endings_  I hope."

Ri giggled. "Don't think I don't know what you're talking about! I hope Emma and Regina are getting there. We did it, we saved them. They're going to be a family. Oh Em, we're going to have a son together. Isn't it amazing?"

"I dunno if it's amazing," Em teased her girlfriend for gushing over the romance of it all. "I suppose he came into the world just like every other person who ever lived. Crying and goopy."

"Very funny." Ri poked her in the ribs. "I don't care what you say, my baby boy is special."

"He's a nerd. Bit of a brat too."

"He can sometimes be a little naughty. Must take after you."

"He's too smart for his own good. Like you."

Ri yawned widely. "Be quiet, Em. You're keeping me up."

"You started this whole conversation. Go to sleep."

"Shhh."

"Shush you."

"You first."

"No, you."

The two girls burst into giggles and the argument descended into a tickle fight that ended only when neither of them could keep their eyes open any longer.

* * *

When the apartment was dead quiet and still, Henry rolled out from under the blankets that made up his makeshift bed on the couch. He hadn't been asleep at all. He crept over to Emma's bedroom and pushed open the door as silently as possible. The teenage versions of his mothers were finally asleep and it was odd to see them so peaceful.

The boy reached into the pocket of his pyjamas and pulled out what he'd stashed there earlier. Henry looked at the small pile of dust which glittered like diamonds in his palm even in the dark of night.

With a deep breath he blew the diamond dust over the girls and then ran back to his bed in case they woke up.

_"I wish..."_


	32. Caught on fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rated M.

Emma's mind was torturing her with possibilities the whole drive home to Mifflin St and Regina's silence was doing nothing to set her at ease. She gripped the steering wheel tighter and tried to focus on the road and not the woman in the passenger seat next to her.

Were they going to have sex tonight or not?

They hadn't been together very long. They hadn't even been on a date. They'd been sleeping in the same bed and fooling around and stealing kisses whenever they could, in fact it was driving Emma crazy to be so tantalisingly close to the attractive brunette without reprieve…

Every night was a test of her self-control. The way Regina would press herself against her when they were in bed was hardly subtle and it took every bit of resolve she had to not flip them over and immediately heat things up.

Regina had made herself clear on the subject, indicating her impatience with their lack of progress. The Mayor was certainly used to demanding what she wanted and then getting it, with the notable exception of Emma Swan, who never did a damn thing she asked without arguing and constantly sought ways to get around her. Every fight they'd ever had had been a passionate battle of wills, with neither of them willing to back down or relinquish control.

Were they close to screwing this up already? Their complicated relationship had had a severely rocky start... but they had more in common than they'd admit to themselves or each other, and if they loved with the same effort that they waged war on each other it was sure to be intense.

Once they arrived, Regina got out of the car wordlessly and opened the front door to let her in. Instantly the memory of the time they'd kissed and stood in the foyer screaming at each other to Emma's mind.

Regina shucked her blazer, revealing her dress and the lengths of her bare arms, and placed it on the sidetable with her purse and keys. Emma immediately began to picture her in even less clothing, mentally removing her remaining garments one by one.

"Regina? Ah crap-" Emma cursed, bending over to snatch the car keys she'd dropped. "So uh. Bed? I mean, unless you're tired or you were just um, talking shit to annoy my parents."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Bed?"

"Yeah - if you want to, that is. Or we can just... sleep." She shrugged lamely.

"Are you nervous, Emma?" Regina murmured, stepping in closer to fiddle with the hem of the shirt peeking out underneath the leather jacket.

"No."

They both knew the answer was pathetically quick and entirely unconvincing.

"Ok fine, yes! Because it's us and you're you and this place looks like it could have a sex dungeon."

Regina moved closer so that when Emma instinctively stepped back, her shoulders and heels of her boots bumped against the front door, effectively trapping her between the hard surface and the heat of a slender form. The car keys fell to the floor again with a scattery clink.

"Sorry to disappoint you, dear, but the dungeon is in my other castle. Very unpleasant. Unless... you are fond of deep dark places?" Regina drew out the last words one a time slowly in her lowest voice.

Emma fought a groan, feeling a thigh pressing firmly between her legs and making the seam of her jeans even tighter against her. Her heart started pounding in her chest and she snaked her hands around the other woman's back to pull her closer.

"This isn't bed," said Emma in a strained voice. "This is door. First time, remember?"

Regina tilted her head with a teasing smile. When Emma rose to meet her lips, expecting to finally make contact, at the last second the Regina 'missed' and pressed the kiss to the pale curve of her neck instead.

"I'll have you wherever I want you, Emma," she whispered.

The gentle gentle kisses on her neck were maddeningly slow and she shivered, wishing Regina would both keep doing it forever and move to kiss her on her mouth instead. She wanted to feel her everywhere but was dying for her to just kiss her first since they'd been caught earlier.

Regina dragged the zipper of Emma's leather jacket open and pushed the garment off her shoulders, exposing the huge white block letters of the offensive slogan on the dark t-shirt underneath. Recognising it immediately, Regina raised her gaze questioningly.  _Fuck the police...?_

Emma grinned. "Ran out of clothes. Borrowed it from Em."

"Were you hoping I'd take it as a suggestion? Or an order."

"You do like to have your hands in everything I hear," Emma quipped.

"Is that what you want? My hands on you. In you?"

The slight rip of the zipping down of skinny jeans interrupted, sounding louder in the echo-y foyer that was silent except for the sound of them breathing hard. Regina slipped her hands inside the waistband and grasped firmly at Emma's hips with splayed fingers.

"These jeans are so tight, Emma. I do enjoy you in them but they'll have to come off."

Regina dragged her hands up the pale expanse of torso and raised the shirt, swiftly pulling it over Emma's head. Long blonde hair fell down into place, tickling her now-exposed back.

A hand reached for her bra strap and, knowing exactly what was the other woman was after, Emma diverted the hand away and laced their fingers to prevent her finding out that particular secret just yet. But Regina wasn't easily waylaid and managed to yank her hand free to work at Emma's jeans instead, determined to remove more of her clothes.

"I want these off," ordered Regina.

"No."

Emma grabbed both wrists firmly, and it was obviously not part of Regina's seduction plan because she started struggling against the constriction, trying to pull her wrists free.

"Emma," came Regina's warning growl.

"Nuh uh. You're not getting everything you want. My turn."

In a second, Emma switched their positions so that Regina's back was flush against the door. She placed one hand under a smooth nylon-clad thigh to wrap the leg around her. Using the advantage of her strength she raised her slightly off the ground, pinning her there with her hip to reduce any leverage the stubborn woman might seek.

"Let me down," Regina demanded, glaring at her heatedly.

She was putting on a good act of defiance but Emma suspected that Regina had become far more aroused than she'd bargained for. The shoe of her raised foot fell to the floor with a thud, so that she could use her heel to dig into the back of Emma's thighs to create more friction between them. Her hands gripped at bare shoulders as though making sure that Emma had a secure enough hold on her.

"You don't have to control everything, Regina," said Emma, squeezing her thigh to change the angle where they met. "You could've pushed me away if you wanted to."

"I still could."

Emma laughed. "No, I think you're right where you want to be."

Emma started to grind their hips together in slow upward movements, and unknowingly to her the hard seam of her jeans was hitting the mark. When Regina's lips parted in a gasp, she lowered her mouth and kissed her firmly, immediately pressing for entry with her tongue to deepen the kiss further. She grabbed Regina's hand with her free one, intertwining their fingers, and pressed it hard against the wood above her head.

With a single thrust Emma hiked her up a little higher. The whimper could've come from either one of them, but just the thought of reducing Regina Mills to such an aroused state heightened Emma's own desire even further. A hand moved up to tangle tightly in her hair.

"R'gina," she broke the kiss, panting. "You ready for bed?"

"I'm not certain I agreed to that location."

"You're the one who's thought so much about this remember."

"Like you haven't imagined it."

"Yeah," Emma breathed. "Every single one of your boring-ass meetings I was picturing this. You?"

"You under me on your desk." Regina spoke quickly, trying to catch her breath in each pause. "Under my desk. On my desk. In my lap. In my bed..."

"Oh hell yes, all of those." Emma groaned and sucked at her lower lip again. "So demanding aren't you. Hot."

Emma's arms were starting to tire, so she let Regina slide down her front setting her on the ground again.

Regina gave her a victorious grin and smoothed her wonderfully messed up hair. "I'm going to change. Meet me upstairs in five minutes."

* * *

It'd been less than  _two_  minutes before Emma snuck upstairs after her in nothing but her underwear. The second Regina came out of the her walk-in wardrobe dressed in a silk slip she was greeted with a kiss, one hand threading through her hair, and the other on her ass.

"Emma!" she gasped. "In what world was that five min-" she was cut off with another kiss.

"Ooh! This is very nice," Emma ran a hand over the silk down to where the hem skimmed a tanned thigh. "But it's gonna be on the floor in about three seconds."

"And where did you leave your jeans? On the stairs for us to trip over and kill ourselves I assume."

"You're killing  _me_  making me wait _,_ " said Emma impatiently.

She walked Regina backwards towards the bed that was already turned down and shoved the slight woman backwards onto the mattress. Regina tried to sit up again but Emma crawled over and pushed her back down with a hand on her breastbone.

Regina rolled her eyes. "If you think I'm going to just lie here and let you-"

"Oh you will," promised Emma. "Trust me. Let me do this for you."

Keeping her eyes up and locked onto the dark smouldering gaze, Emma raised the silk hem up over Regina's head. She leaned in to kiss her mouth and then took her time kissing her way down from her collarbones. She drew the tip of one breast between her lips to massage it gently and grazed the other with her palm until it hardened. Emma flipped her long hair over her shoulder so that it would tickle Regina's torso as she moved down and traveled her kisses below the navel. Apparently guessing what she was intending, Regina raised her hips off the bed so that she could hook her fingers in and remove the matching silk underwear.

Emma pressed a kiss to the sensitive inner thigh she parted. "You ok with this? Scream if you don't want me to stop."

"You're rather confident in your abilities," said Regina, trying for a casual tone but the tightness in her voice betrayed her apprehension.

"You have no idea," Emma murmured, then lowered to kiss her frustratingly close before floating away. She brushed her lips and ran her tongue over her gently, making her anticipate what was coming next. She had a feeling Regina hadn't let anyone do this for her before and Emma hoped she could make an excellent first impression.

"Like this so far?"

Regina sighed and closed her eyes. "It feels-"

_Please say good,_  Emma begged in her mind.

She wasn't sure what Regina murmured in response, she thought it was something like right or nice. She dipped her tongue inside, just enough to be teasing the hell of her judging by her reaction as she strained closer for more. Regina gasped aloud when Emma finally moved her tongue around her clit. Her breathing became noticeably more laboured. The constant heat and rhythm was working her up to full arousal.

Minutes later she had the other woman completely in her thrall with every move of her mouth and tongue. God it was so utterly amazing what she was doing to her, leaving her squirming under her. The vocal reaction she was getting out of the normally inscrutable woman was hot as hell and every moan caused a new thrill of excitement for her as well.

For so long, Emma had been attracted to the mother of her son, the unyielding difficult woman who never let her get close to her, who had denied feeling anything for her in return even after they'd twice had a peak of shared arousal last year. The same woman she'd seen almost every day for months, hardly able to stop her thoughts automatically running through all the pleasurable things she wanted to do to her and share with her. She'd been convinced those fantasies would remain just that.

_Now_  she had her head between Regina's thighs, where she was so wet Emma couldn't believe it.  _This_  was what she'd brought her to feel. And judging by the way her hips were raising off the bed, searching for harder pressure, Emma was sure she was bringing her fairly close. It felt wonderful to be finally doing this with Regina and to show her this pleasure _._

"Not yet," Emma said softly. She curled one arm around a thigh and placed her other hand on Regina's hip to held her down, preventing her from moving up again and releasing the tension that was building.

Regina grabbed a fistful of the pillow underneath her head and complained indignantly. "Emma!"

But Emma was not going to let her have what she wanted so soon, intending to keep her not-so-comfortably frustrated at the top for a while longer, drawing it out as long as possible.

She flicked once quickly with her tongue and Regina shuddered so hard against her that it was lucky she was mostly still holding her down.

"Too much?"

Regina hissed. "Yes, I want more. Don't stop."

Emma knew Regina was getting close now, tension tightening unbearably within her. She kept saying "Emma" over and over like she was begging her, probably unaware that she was even speaking.  _God that was hot,_  she thought, and it made her groan aloud, her own arousal distracting her for a second.

Suddenly Regina's arms fell to the bed and her abdomen tensed rigidly. Even though she was dying to watch it happen, Emma was determined to make it as intense as she could.

_Come on, I know you're close, you're nearly there, lose control for me, I've got you, so close..._

Emma gave up all thoughts of restraint now and sucked with firm pressure, letting Regina move as much as she wanted. She was rewarded near-instantly when she arched off the bed over and over, crying out her pleasure. She continued to press light kisses as the tremors reduced for a while, bringing her down as gently and slowly as she could.

Taking advantage of the fact that Regina was still lying there, slack-limbed and blissed out, Emma crawled up beside her and kissed her pinkened cheek. Prickles of sweltering heat from sweat were tingling all over her back, and she could feel Regina's body too radiating heat were they were laying together.

Emma nuzzled her neck. "I can't believe how beautiful you are."

"What are  _you_  hoping for," murmured Regina. "I'm exhausted."

"You'd better be kidding," said Emma incredulously. "I want you badly."

When she'd recovered enough, Regina sat up higher when Emma pulled her by the arm so that she could straddle her. "What do you want me to do?"

"Touch me. I want to feel your hands on me."

Emma felt hands go around her back and then slipped the straps off her shoulders, letting the bra fall to the bed.

Regina smirked for a second before raising an intrigued eyebrow, barely taking her eyes from chest level. "Why exactly did you feel the need to inflict  _that_  upon yourself."

Regina leaned in to pull at the nipple ring with her teeth, giving it a small tug. Emma's hand immediately flew to cradle the other woman's head, massaging the short dark locks. Cupping a firm breast, Regina traded her mouth for her thumb to roll the sensitive piercing back-n-forth to heighten the sensation.

Emma's moan was strangled. "Uhhm, that's why. So good."

Since she was already pretty far gone, it was frustrating as hell that Regina was running her hand over her in light strokes and gentle caresses. She covered the hand palming at her breast with her own, hoping she'd get the hint and move them to a lower sensitive place, but Regina managed to extricate herself and paid more attention to sucking her neck instead.

"Regina, please," Emma nearly begged. "I'm kinda close, you don't have to warm me up-"

"I know," Regina's hot whisper came against her ear. "Do you imagine that all this time I didn't know how I was affecting you?"

The first light touch high between her thighs had her biting back a moan, not wanting to give Regina the satisfaction of it. Apparently the power-tripping former queen had known exactly what she wanted the whole time. She'd played her.

"Oh, you are  _affected_  aren't you. I can feel it. What would you like from me? This?"

"Oh god please," Emma whimpered. She knew vaguely that it was pathetic, but she was completely all out of resistance and over-run with need. Her own hand went to cover Regina's, trying to guide her to what she wanted most but a hard voice stopped her immediately.

"Don't. Or I will stop. It's my turn."

"Regina- uh!" she gasped, slumping forward with jerk when two fingers finally slipped firmly inside her. She buried her face in Regina's shoulder and wrapped her arms around tightly around her back. The strength of her pushing against her as she moved must've been a challenge, but Regina was holding her ground and keeping them both upright.

"Is this what you want. More?"

Emma groaned. "Yes, yes."

She wanted to scream out of pure frustration at how things had suddenly been turned on her. This was exactly like every interaction she'd ever had with Regina. Emma would fight against her, throwing everything she had at her, and right when she thought she'd won, just when she thought she had her, at the last second the Mayor would reveal her finishing move - that she'd been on top the whole time and in perfect control of the game.

But unlike last year, this time the game was the sort that two can play and both win.

The heel of Regina's palm circled against her clit and then all it took was a few hard strokes and a curl of her fingers that brought Emma to whimper something involuntarily, and she gasped over and over into the hot skin of a tanned shoulder. She was still shaking slightly when Regina turned her face, searching for a kiss, as they held each other reveling in the closeness.

They stared at each other for a while, stroking the other's hair and taking in the details of her face and eyes. The chemistry between them hadn't been quenched, it'd been set on fire instead. Regina's smile was lighter than Emma had ever seen it but it still held that hint of mischief. She joined their smiles together and kissed her playfully a few times.

"Now what do I do with you hm?" Regina said wryly, peering at her hand in her peripheral vision.

Emma laughed. "Oh god I love you."

"So I've heard. I love you too."

* * *

When Emma woke the next morning, the glare was streaming in through the gaps in the curtains and there was a new fire crackling in the fireplace and two glasses of apple juice on the nightstand. She rolled over to see Regina, dressed in her silk slip again, half-reclined next to her in bed. She was curling a knife around an apple with soft contentment on her face.

"You've been up already," Emma said blearily.

"Mmhm. You're still naked. Are you warm enough?"

"Yeah. What time's it."

"After ten, but it's Saturday. Relax. Are you hungry yet?"

Emma laid on her side and propped her head onto her hand, watching her with a smile. She trailed her fingers over the silk-covered breasts. "Nice apples."

Regina rolled her eyes at the obnoxious comment. "Really? That's the best you have for me? How juvenile. Thanks,  _Em_."

"It's Emma," she said, pretending offense. "How could you get us mixed up? We're so different! Trust me, Em talks a good game but I am way better at what we did last night than she is."

Regina sliced off a chunk of apple and pushed it into Emma's mouth to shut her up.

Emma crunched the sweet crisp flesh. "Mm see? You're the one who's being sweet, checking I'm not cold and feeding me your delicious fruit,  _Ri_."

"That cutesy name doesn't fit me anymore."

"Parts of you are still cute. After last night, I'm qualified to assess them all."

Regina's phone beeped with a new message and she laid across Emma, deliberately pressing their breasts together, to retrieve the phone from where it was charging on the nightstand. Emma grabbed her ass to stop her from rolling back off.

"You might as well stay there," hinted Emma, comfortable with the weight on top of her. "Saturday Morning Sex is traditionally held on a Saturday. We should probably get started before we run out of morning."

Regina kissed her quickly and then tapped through to the message on the phone. Her grin faded.

"Hey, what's wrong," said Emma. "Who was it?"

"It's from your mother's phone but I'm fairly certain it was Em who wrote it."

Regina turned the phone around to show Emma the message.

_Mary Margaret Blanchard (tombstone icon): Hey old people if ur finished with ur steamy sexfest theres some fairy lady here waiting to speak to u._

"We'll have to go over there," said Regina, but her heart really wasn't in it.

Emma whined. "Do we have to?"

"Yes. I want to go see Henry."

"Ok. I'm gonna grab a shower in a sec."

Regina rolled off her and made an attempt at fixing the disarray of sheets and blankets. "Help me make the bed first."

"What for? We're just gonna mess it up again later."

"Not if you don't help me."

"Ohhh you  _are_  still evil aren't you."

"Yes, Emma. Out of all the things I've done, withholding sex until you help me tidy up is by far the worst."

Emma grumbled. "It is to me."

"You'll do it because I asked you to." Regina grinned at her.

"Nooo, don't give me that look! Ah, fine."

Emma was still resisting when she rolled out of bed and reluctantly donned her FTP shirt again. Regina ended up doing the most of the making, smoothing out the bed covers and replacing the cushions in their carefully determined arrangement. Once everything was back in it's original position, Emma looked at the ceiling innocently and flipped the corner of the bedspread messing it up deliberately.

"Emma!" said Regina exasperatedly. "Fine. Go get in the shower."

Emma raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Join me? The others can wait. I can't."


	33. Better

"Took you long enough," said Em, as soon as Emma and Regina walked in the apartment door.

The teenage girls were sitting closely on the couch together. Em was engrossed in playing some phone game and Ri had Henry's book in her lap. It was Em who first raised her gaze at the adults who had just arrived and were removing their coats and scarves. She narrowed her eyes and gave Regina an appraising once-over as though to check her for any signs of injury or disenchantment after her night with Emma.

"How'd it go last night?" said Em mock-innocently, making it clear she was asking about the sex and not the Council meeting.

"Hi!" Ri chirped.

Emma went over to her to inspect the stitches in the girl's lip. "Aw Ri, look at you. I'd hate to see the other guy."

Ri replied straight-faced. "There was no guy."

"She means you look badass," said Em. "Like you've been in a fight."

"Oh! Well yes, I am a force to be reckoned with," said Ri, nodding. "The book says so."

"Mm-hmm," drawled Em. "Watcha gonna do. Kill us with kindness?"

Ri flipped some of the pages over, perusing the illustrations. "I wear some rather interesting outfits in this book. I didn't know my decolletage could do that."

"Magic," said Em. She glanced back and forth between the two Regina's and when she caught her older self checking them out too they shared a knowing smirk with each other without saying anything at all.

"How are your stitches?" said Regina to her younger self, tapping her own scar. "Mother isn't here to berate you over it like she did me. I had to lie about how it happened. You had someone to take care of you but I expected you to be more upset."

Ri shrugged. "It doesn't hurt anymore but it feels funny on the inside and my tongue won't stop playing with it."

Em cracked up. "That's what she said."

"Who?" said Ri blankly, making Em laugh harder.

Ri shot her a playful frown and crossed her arms in a huff. "I don't know what that means but I know you're being annoying, Em Swan."

"That's not what you were saying last night when we were cuddled up."

Emma shoved her younger self's leg with her foot. "Hey. She's injured. Tell me you didn't-"

"No. What do you think I am?" Em countered. "Tell me you guys  _did_  though right? You'd better not have wussed out, Crankypants. I hope you were gentlemanly about it and let her go first."

Emma rolled her eyes.

"Regina, if Emma sucked it's not my fault," said Em apologetically. "I offered to give her some advice."

"So, was it really good?" said Ri eagerly.

Emma covered her reddening face with her hands. "Oh my god, if it's not one it's the other."

"That's because you still haven't answered, Emma," said Regina.

"Why don't  _you_  answer."

"You first," quipped Regina.

"I - it was-" Emma gaped open-mouthed, searching for words. "You know what. I'm not telling. No spoilers! They can find out for themselves when they're us one day."

Em raised a lazy eyebrow over her thick black glasses. "I don't wanna be you if I have to wear that daggy sweater. You seriously hoping Regina will want to sleep with you again after seeing you in  _that_?"

"It's not that bad, Emma. Really," Ri said, rather unconvincingly coming to the rescue.

"You're lying, Ri," said Em. "It looks like a multi-coloured sheep orgy."

"Fortunately she looks better out of it," said Regina wryly.

"I bet she does," said Ri, to everyone's surprise. "What are you all looking at me like that for? I wasn't being flippant like Em. Mary Margaret gave me a lot of information and it would've been nice if someone had just told me it was normal earlier. It feels wonderful to be with Em but after hearing things about my future I honestly want to know that it can be good. So please tell me."

"Yeah, Ri. Uh, of course it was-" stammered Emma, stricken that they'd all been joking when Ri really wanted to know the truth. "It was good. Um, really good."

Ri looked sideways at Em and held out her empty palm. "Hand it over."

"Dammit, Emma!" groused Em, slapping a $10 note into Ri's palm. "How could you fall for that?"

"I bet her that I could get you to tell me," explained Ri sweetly to Emma's horror.

"What do you want money for anyway, Ri," said Em.

Ri smiled victoriously and shrugged. "Oh, I don't care about this strange bartering paper. I just wanted to win."

* * *

Mary Margaret called to Emma and Regina from the bench where she was cutting up bread and salad items to go with the soup that was boiling on the stove. "Hi, you two. Lunch will be ready in a little while if you're hungry."

"Actually I'm starving," admitted Emma.

Em stage-whispered, "Did you work up an appetite this morning? By the way, you both smell like the same shampoo."

Emma winked at her younger self and then accepted Em's offer of a bro-fist bump.

"Miss Blanchard, where's Henry?" Regina asked.

"Playing on his laptop," said Mary Margaret. "He went for a bike ride to the shops earlier but he's been tucked away upstairs ever since he got back. He's been a bit too quiet actually. He looked a bit sad I thought."

"So where's the Blue Fairy?" said Emma, looking around and wondering why their reason for being summoned didn't appear to be here.

"Why would Blue be here?" said Mary Margaret. "We still haven't heard from her about yesterday's Council meeting that she missed."

Emma was about to get annoyed that they'd come over for nothing. "But Regina got a text message saying she was here wanting to talk to us."

Em threw her hand up like she was in class. "I sent that! The pretty fairy lady went out with David to pick something up."

Mary Margaret finally clicked. "Oh! You mean  _Astrid_. Why didn't you just say so, Emma. They'll be back soon."

That explanation didn't really explain anything. Emma and Regina exchanged a look, each asking the other silently if they knew what the hell was going on. What could Astrid possibly want with them?

Later that afternoon things got even stranger when David and Astrid finally returned with Leroy tagging along behind them. Instead of wearing the drab navy blue outfit of the Storybrooke nuns, Astrid was dressed in a weird pink-white combination of frills, a tulle skirt, and mismatched knee socks. She wouldn't have looked out of place at rollerderby or the Harajuku district and Leroy apparently couldn't stop staring. Astrid bounced into the apartment, greeted them all in her bubbly friendly manner and managed to trip over something invisible on the way in.

"Hi everybody. Oops!" cried Astrid. She fell and landed hard on her knees. Her bag dropped to the floor with a heavy thud.

Leroy rushed worriedly to her side. "Are you ok, Astrid?"

"Yes! I'm so clumsy. Thank you, Leroy, you're very kind to help me up." Astrid blushed and accepted his hand.

"No, no. Thank  _you_  for falling right there," said Leroy, trying not to look up her skirt. "So that I could help you."

"You're a real gentleman," said Astrid, sneaking shy looks at the dwarf.

"It was nothing," Leroy said gruffly.

David and Mary Margaret were nudging each other and smiling in that smug-superior-knowing way couples have when they see other couples dance around each other when they are first getting together.

Regina rolled her eyes at the lovesick pair. "Oh joy. The happy endings are returning."

Em nodded in agreement. "Yeah. They've been like that all morning. Kinda sickening isn't it? Just get together already!"

"There has to be a bit of trouble first. Oh it's so romantic," said Ri. "I think her outfit is pretty."

"You would." Em snorted.

Astrid was holding a Barbie-pink backpack which must've been very heavy judging by the way she had to hoist it up to set it on the table. She unzipped the top of it to check inside and as soon as the light hit whatever was inside, it began to throw off rainbows like diamonds in the sun. The display lasted mere seconds before she quickly zipped it back up.

Emma was peering suspiciously at the bag, wondering what was going on with the nun and what the strange new civvy outfit signified. "Uh Sister Astrid? We got a message saying you wanted to see us?"

"Oh you can just call me Astrid now. Not  _Sister_  Astrid."

"You're not a nun anymore?"

Astrid hunched her shoulders sheepishly, causing her multiple rows of plastic jewelry to clink together. "No, the Mother Superior told me to leave."

"What!" said Em. "She kicked you out?"

"She said I wasn't turning out to be a very good nun. Don't worry. She said I could still live at the nunnery as long as I needed to but that I had a more important role now. She said 'You have to live the life you were born to live.'"

Em snickered. "Did she sing Climb Ev'ry Mountain and tell you to follow your dreams?"

"No, but I do love that song. Anyway, I'm so looking forward to my new life," Astrid gushed, unable to hide her excitement. "The Mother Superior said there's an opening for a new fairy godmother, which is truly all I've ever wanted to be! I'm not a very good fairy yet so it'll take some time to learn but I hope my new family agrees to take me on."

"That's wonderful news, Astrid," Mary Margaret congratulated her. She sent a knowing smile at her favourite dwarf who also looked over-the-moon by his love's sudden availability for romantic dates. "Isn't it, Leroy?"

"Yeah, wonderful," echoed Leroy.

"I'm sure any family would be lucky to have you, Astrid," said David.

Ri picked up an inconsistency that the others missed. "But only Royal families can have a patron fairy assigned to them. New families are only designated as such when they are the merger of two different lines of Royal blood."

Em thumbed at her parents. "So it must be them then?"

"No," said Astrid. "The Blue Fairy will continue to serve as patron to Snow White and her Prince as before."

"But as our daughter surely that includes Emma as well?" said Mary Margaret.

"Formerly yes, but she has a new family now."

Emma held up her palms. "Ok wait, I'm new to this fairytale stuff. What's going on?"

Astrid bounced on her toes and clapped her hands together looking like she was about to burst with excitement. "I'm to be patron to the Swan-Mills Family!"

Everyone was gobsmacked by the confirmation that Emma and Regina were apparently a Serious Thing now if they were even being recognised by the fairy godmothers. Those who had lived in Fairytale Land were familiar with the concepts but the Emma's had only read about them in twee storybooks and were unaware of the implications of it.

"But they're not married," said Ri. "And they're both women. That never happens."

"The Blue Fairy felt that some of the rules needed updating," said Astrid with a smile. "She deemed them eligible for a patron."

"Provided we agree to it," Regina said shortly. She got up and went to stand by the window, staring out at the darkening streets.

Astrid's face fell. "Of course. It is your choice."

Emma shook her head like trying to clear the confusion. "I don't understand what this means. Do we get wishes or something?"

"One wish for each family member," said Astrid. "Normally a Royal would've redeemed their wish as a child or by the time they were a teenager if they were in need of it. Perhaps someone might make a wish as an adult if they'd saved it long enough but adults don't need wishes as much as children do because usually they have more autonomy over their own lives. Waiting too long to redeem one's wish isn't a good idea."

"Why," asked Emma.

"Wishes go stale when they're not needed," said Ri. "Or they can be stolen by another or forfeited at the discretion of the fairy godmothers."

Astrid nodded. "Yes, that's right. Unfortunately my training is incomplete so it may be some time before I can grant any eligible wishes and I may never become powerful enough for performing anything complex."

"Who cares if we've got the Noob Fairy." Em's face turned over-the-top excited. "I get a wish! This is awesome. I want-"

"Shut up!" Emma hissed, hastily pointing at her teenage double. "Don't you dare waste my wish on something crap."

Astrid held her hands above her head like she was going to catch a basketball. A diamond-edged clipboard with fluttering paper appeared out of thin air and dropped into her hands.

"Let's see. They transferred your paperwork to me," murmured Astrid. "Emma Swan, aged 28, made and was granted the following wish last year: 'I wish I didn't have to be alone on my birthday'."

"Hey!" Em cried at her older self. "You used it for that?"

"I didn't know it was gonna come true," said Emma defensively. "Or that I'd only get one wish in my lifetime."

"Dude, seriously, Invisibility Cloak."

"Er, but I can already get around people without being seen."

"Yeah sometimes I can. But I can't always control it. You should've wished for something good. Like a Nimbus 2000. That'd be awesome."

"Stop wishing for things that don't exist! Henry showed up. That was way better. Apart from the fact that it led to all this magic curse crap and having to fight a dragon. I got parents, my son, and Regina out of it. I found my family. I don't regret that."

"Yeah, but you should've said-"

"Girls-" Astrid jumped in before the Emma's could argue further. "It's not just the wording of the wish that matters, it's the intent. The person must be in true need of help that can come from no other place. The Blue Fairy granted it since at the time she was your patron and you wished upon a star. You were secretly wishing for family and it seems to have come true in full."

"I doubt you'll be alone on a birthday ever again, Emma," said David, smiling at his daughter.

Mary Margaret backhanded her husband in the shoulder. "That's right, David. Her birthday's coming up. We have to plan something. We've got 28 years to make up for."

Emma cringed. "Just as long as I don't end up regretting my wish. Nothing big ok?"

Mary Margaret glanced at her husband. "Circus tent?"

David nodded. "Petting zoo and fire breathers."

"You guys are joking," said Emma, narrowing her eyes. "Aren't you?"

"Here." Astrid handed Emma a sheet of paper. "Could you fill out this Wish Satisfaction Survey, please? It's part of our Quality Control process. Our research shows that 97% of children experience improved emotional health upon granting of a wish."

"Um, sure," said Emma. "I guess you could say I'm… satisfied. With my wish."

"Do I get a wish too?" asked Ri hopefully. She'd been waiting patiently, even though she was dying ask, since she was expecting Regina to speak up first. She glanced at her older self who still had her back to them all.

Astrid flipped through several pages and started to frown as she scanned the information. "Wow, there's a lot here. The Mills Family patron was killed in suspicious circumstances when you were aged three, leaving you ineligible. A full investigation turned up nothing and was subsequently dropped as part of a deal with… oh, it doesn't say, it just says 'Name redacted'. Must've been someone powerful I suppose. Unfulfilled wishes were submitted by Regina Mills regularly from the age of fourteen:

'I wish I knew why Mother doesn't seem to love me, I just want to know why'... 'I wish I would meet someone so I'm not lonely anymore' … 'I'd love to know what it is like to be kissed, just once would be enough' ... 'I wish I could marry for True Love one day' ... 'I wish I knew what it was like to fall in love' ... 'If I have to get married, I hope that I will have children someday'… 'I'd do anything to have Daniel back. Please, I'm so lost' ... 'I wish I knew how to make Henry really love me' … 'I wish it would rain on Miss Swan's white tanktop' … 'I wish that Emma would ask if I-'

"That's enough," Regina snapped. She whirled around with a lethal glare, sending the room temperature down a few degrees.

Mary Margaret said softly. "Astrid's just trying to help."

"I'm done with wishing," said Regina coldly, before stalking upstairs to go see her son.

* * *

_108 Mifflin St, later that night_

Regina was turning down the bedding when she felt Emma come into her bedroom. She could see her out of the corner of her eye, leaning in the doorway with her arms folded in front of her. Watching her every move. It left her feeling even more exposed after having her most private yearnings listed in front of everyone.

"So you're pissed because it's Swan-Mills instead of Mills-Swan right?" said Emma.

"No. It's neither." Regina knew it was meant as a joke but gave one of the pillows an unnecessary slap to fluff it up, preferring to remain in a snit than to be humoured out of her mood.

"Yep, that's right. We're nothing aren't we."

"Excuse me?"

Emma shrugged. "Last night meant nothing to you but sex. The fact that we're in love means nothing to you. You think the three of us aren't a real family. Yeah Regina, you've a right to be pissed. None of your wishes have come true have they?"

Regina stopped what she was doing and glared at her. "Stop being facetious. You know full well I don't think that way. I know what we have together."

"Okay. Then can you please tell me why you're mad? I told Astrid she could be our patron provided that you agreed to it too. I don't get what the big deal is anyway. If you don't want to use your wish then don't. It sounded like Astrid can't do complicated magic anyways."

"You don't understand." Regina moved away when Emma came near her.

"Then help me. I want to understand where you come from."

"What's the point."

"For a start, I want to know everything about you. But I don't really get this fairytale crap sometimes. The reason I don't know any of it is because I had to leave Fairytale Land when I was a baby. Something about a dark curse and an evil witch?"

Regina was not buying the innocence act. "Don't try to manipulate me. You're not very good at it."

"Oh I'm plenty good at it." Emma grabbed her hand and sat them both down on the edge of the bed. She tucked a lock of dark hair behind Regina's ear and placed a kiss on her temple.

"See?" Emma whispered.

Regina crossed her arms and refused to return eye contact. "Fine. I'm angry because you got your wish and I didn't. It's likely that I've missed my chance by now. Wishes expire."

"Uh huh."

It was clear in her tone that Emma didn't believe her. But whatever it was about her, lie-detector power or not, with just a word and a look she had Regina spilling her heart out anyway.

"Emma, you don't understand what it was like for me, how I kept wishing over and over for what I wanted most. I had so much hope that everything would turn out ok … but it was all for nothing. The worst happened and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I tried everything to bring him back. When I asked my father why my wishes weren't coming true he told me our family patron had been reassigned a long time ago. But it was a lie. My parents lied to me."

Regina sighed. "I found out much later from Rumpelstiltzskin that my Mother killed her."

Emma didn't seem very surprised to hear such a thing about Cora. "Did he tell you why?"

"He didn't have to. Mother wanted to make sure that I was completely under her control. I never had the chance to wish myself away from her. Like Archie did with his parents."

Emma frowned. "That wasn't on your list of wishes though."

"Exactly. I wouldn't have used it to get away from her. I loved her."

To Emma it wasn't just Regina's list of wishes that was revealing but the absence of certain wishes. She hadn't wanted to runaway from Cora, she hadn't wished for Snow's death, she hadn't asked for the curse to remain unbroken... Perhaps she hadn't truly wanted those in the first place? Regina had only wished for that which she felt was outside her own power to effect, nothing that she could make come true herself.

All of her wishes seemed to centre around one thing: being loved.

"What was your last wish? You want me to ask you something?" said Emma gently.

"I don't want to tell you that."

"Then how will I know what to ask?"

"I don't know if I truly want you to. Even if it is my wish. I've learned my lesson trying to force people's hearts to change. Someone once told me 'just because you want something doesn't mean you should take it'."

Emma chuckled. "That sounds complicated. Fine, keep your secrets then. For now."

Since that seemed to be all she was expecting to get out of her, Emma left and disappeared into the bathroom.

Regina heard the shower turn on and then off after barely a minute. When Emma didn't return, Regina got up to investigate what the other woman was up to and when she pushed the bathroom door open she had her answer.

"I couldn't help noticing that some of your wishes have already come true," said Emma, with a less-than-innocent grin. "But I thought maybe we could get to work on the others?"

Emma was standing there dripping wet like she'd stepped into the shower fully clothed. She was stripped down to her white tanktop, which was soaked through and revealed a black bra underneath. Her hair, formerly soft golden strands, was hanging wet around her face and there were dewy drops clinging to her nose, cheeks, and lips. The lights overheard left a shine on her well-defined arms and her legs were bare, strong and toned. Regina imagined a flash of a glimpse of having them wrapped around her tightly, with Emma writhing underneath her and moaning with every thrust.

"Your shirt is see-through," Regina managed to say, with her voice at her lowest register.

"It's not rain but it's close enough?" Emma said suggestively.

Regina lifted her hand to smooth the droplets of water on Emma's lower lip. "You'll get cold like this." Her eyes travelled over Emma's form and then back up.

"Not if you warm me up real quick."

Regina took the bottom of Emma's shirt, which was sticking to her skin, and pulled it over her head. The sopping fabric fell to the bathroom floor with a wet slap. She placed her five fingertips to rest lightly at collarbone-height and then let them trail a path down Emma's torso past her navel, raising a shiver and goose-bumps on the dewy pale skin as she went.

"Shall we mess up the bed?"

"Your wish is my command," Emma said gallantly. She made quick work of unbuttoning Regina's blouse and then flung it into the air with a flourish.

Regina pulled her close for a kiss and murmured. "You keep going the way you have been and I may just let you."


	34. Worse

Emma and Regina ended up spending a lot of time at the apartment over the weekend in order to be with the rest of the family. With the notable exception of going to Mifflin St to sleep at nights of course, something that made Em and Ri smirk and giggle in their direction whenever they could get away with it. Mary Margaret and David watched their daughter's unfolding happiness before their very eyes and were pleased to see her walls coming down.

But there was one family member who didn't seem to be as enthusiastic about Emma and Regina's developing relationship.

All weekend Henry had been intercepting his mothers whenever they were close to each other, appearing out of nowhere to hug one of them or wriggle between them. Regina would also catch her son watching her carefully from time to time, like he was monitoring her behaviour, and the scrutiny made her feel like she was on a slide under his microscope.

When Regina mentioned it to Emma she passed it off as nothing, suggesting that Henry was just feeling a bit left out and maybe he was afraid that their being together would mean that they'd each pay less attention to him now. Recently he'd seemed ok with them getting along better and not fighting anymore. Plus he'd seen Em and Ri's romance blossom over the last few weeks. Why would he be opposed to his mothers being together now?

They sat him down to explain everything to him properly, beginning with the fact that they were seeing each other romantically.

"So you're in love," said Henry.

Emma beamed happily. "Yeah. We are."

Henry looked skeptical. "Do you really love Mom, Emma?"

"Yes and I'm pretty sure she loves me too. Why wouldn't she? I'm awesome."

Regina smiled fondly at Henry, brushing his hair back off his forehead. "But no matter what happens between us, whether we're together or not, the both of us will always love you, darling."

"Are you gonna get married?"

Emma gaped for a second before answering. "Well uh, let's not get ahead of ourselves. That's kinda down the track and a piece of paper is not that important anyway. But the three of us are a family ok?"

Henry listened quietly taking it all in but he didn't say much else. By Sunday night he was hanging all over Regina like a limpet, so she and Emma ended up staying the night in the crowded apartment, not wanting to leave him when there was obviously something wrong.

The next morning he was getting ready for school so slowly that he was in danger of missing the bus and making both his mothers late for work. Emma and Regina were getting concerned by his behaviour now, especially since he looked more suspicious than ever when they came out of the same bedroom.

After breakfast, Regina sat him down on the couch with her. "Henry, I know this must be confusing for you. Is there anything you want to ask us?"

The boy looked down glumly. "I can't tell if it worked," he mumbled.

Emma jostled his shoulder. "Hey kid, what's up? You've wanted us to get along better for ages but I can't help thinking that you're not happy about this. Don't you want us to be together?"

"I don't know."

"Can you tell us why," asked Regina gently.

Henry shook his head. "Not really."

"Kid, you can't just drop a bomb like that without telling us why!" said Emma.

"Emma. Don't speak to him in that tone." Regina shot her a warning look after noticing Henry's flinch at the outburst.

Emma got up to pace so she wouldn't have to see Regina glaring at her. The frustration of dealing with a recalcitrant child all morning was getting the best of her. There was one thing that every child instinctively knew, which was how to get on their parent's very last nerve. Emma hadn't experienced it before - the way that kids could try your patience and push your limits until you snapped. Last year, Henry had told her his every waking thought about Operation Cobra and his curse-breaking plans and she'd happily gone along with it, relishing especially in the fact that they were going behind Regina's back. But now, she realised, it wasn't that much fun to be shut out.

"I gotta get ready for work," Emma muttered, heading for the bathroom.

Henry watched Emma leave and then said something quietly to Regina. "Sorry, Mom."

"I'll drive you to school, Henry," said Regina. "You'll have missed the bus by now. Go get your things."

Regina was hiding it from her son and Emma both, but inside her heart was tearing painfully at the impossible thought of having to choose between the two most important people in her life. She hoped desperately that it would never come to that.

* * *

At the school entrance the bell was about to ring so Regina handed her son his backpack and lunchbox. "Try to have a good day, Henry."

"Mom, are you coming to pick me up this afternoon?" said Henry.

"I was going to. But I can call Emma to come get you if you'd prefer, or you can get the bus," she offered.

"No. You," said Henry quickly. "I want to go straight home after school. Can we please go straight there?"

"Of course. You can see everyone else when they get home."

"Not the apartment. I want to go to your house."

Regina was taken aback by his request and his wording. "Henry, it's your house too. It always will be."

"I have to go to class." Henry scuffed his feet and walked away.

Regina watched her son go until he disappeared into the school building, perplexed by his sudden clinginess to her and his apparent resistance to the idea of his mothers dating. What was going on with him? It worried her, she hadn't seen him act so downcast since last year when he found out he was adopted. After the curse broke he couldn't get away from her fast enough but now he seemed afraid to let her out of his sight. Maybe she should give Archie a call and see if he'd said anything to him.

She spied a familiar schoolteacher supervising the line of children alighting from the schoolbus near the gates.

"Don't dawdle, please. The bell's about to ring. Get to class." The pixie-haired teacher shepherded the last of the stragglers through the gate.

"Regina. Hi," said Mary Margaret, seeing her approach. "Henry missed the bus again?"

"Yes. Miss Blanchard, I'd appreciate it if you'd keep an eye on him today. Especially at recess."

"Oh, is there something wrong?"

"Have you seen any of the children troubling him?"

Mary Margaret was surprised by the question. "No, I haven't noticed anything like that. He doesn't have many friends but usually the other kids don't pay much attention to him. Did he tell you he's being bullied?"

"No. I don't think that's why he's upset."

"Did something happen? You don't look ok either."

Regina paused awkwardly. "He... knows about Emma and I."

"By the looks of it he didn't take it well?" Mary Margaret gave her a sympathetic grimace.

"We're not sure why," said Regina quietly.

"Ok. I'll keep an eye on him for you."

When Mary Margaret took her hand to support her, Regina's eyes snapped at her in warning. Out of habit she tried to pull her hand free but the kindhearted teacher held fast and gave her a significant look.

"Regina? This situation hasn't been easy for any of us and he's very young. He loves you both. I'm sure it'll just take a little time to get used to the idea."

"For once, I hope you are right."

If Regina squeezed her former enemy's hand in return she would deny it until her dying breath.

* * *

Mayor Mills had been at Town Hall for half the morning, without being able to concentrate or make headway with work tasks. When the phone on her desk rang, she picked it up on the first ring, knowing exactly who it'd be.

"Hi," said Emma over the phone. "Did he say anything more when you drove him to school?"

"No," Regina sighed. "Emma, don't be angry at him please. You said the three of us are a family. We have to make decisions together. He has a right to have a say in what happens to us. Our son is our first priority."

"Are you suggesting that we let a ten-year-old decide whether we can date each other?"

"He's eleven."

"Yes, I know that. You know what I meant. He's the kid, we're the parents."

"Yes, we are. But ignoring or belittling his feelings isn't going to get us anywhere. I did enough of that last year. I want to earn his trust again."

"So that's what you're doing. Trying to be the favourite Mom and letting him have his own way so that you can get back into his good books? Is this you stinging me, Regina, are we gonna drown?"

"If you continue that ridiculous train of thought I'm hanging up," Regina snapped.

"No, don't! Sorry, that was a crap thing to say. I know we're not competing anymore, I do. It's just - sometimes I get so worried about him that I can't think of anything else."

"Welcome to parenthood. It never ends by the way - the worrying."

"Lucky I've got you to tell me this stuff then huh."

Regina rose from her desk to go stand at her office window silently. She parted the curtains so that her apple tree was in full view.

"Do you think it's the same-sex thing?" suggested Emma, after a while. "He's young, maybe he just doesn't get it. Or maybe word's got around already and he's getting shit from the other kids at school. These Storybrooke kids are from Fairytale Land where there were no relationships like ours right? Kids can be cruel. What about you, you're from there too. Are you ok with it, Regina?"

"I admit it isn't easy, you were right. But neither do I give up the things I want easily."

"Argh, I wish he'd just told us! Then at least we'd know the reason, especially if it's something we can fix or explain to him."

"I suspect I know what it is," Regina admitted. "It's me. He doesn't want you to be with  _me_."

Evidently Emma knew what she was inferring but wasn't happy about it. "Oh, come on. You don't seriously think he wants me to get back with Neal? Because that's not going to happen. Even if you and me weren't a thing."

"He may be attached to the idea that there's still a chance of his mother and father getting back together again."

" _You're_  his mother," Emma snapped. "And I do not love Neal anymore. I dated him when I was a teenager and look what happened, he got me pregnant and left me to go to jail for him. I was alone and devastated and I waited months for him to turn himself in or even just to visit so that I could tell him about the baby. But he didn't. He abandoned me just like everyone else. He's had ten years to come find me and own up to that shit but he never did."

Regina gritted her teeth at hearing what Emma had gone through at Em's age. "He's a coward, like his father."

"It's okay. I'm a big girl, I'm over it. He's got a fiance now, I doubt he still loves me. I love  _you_."

"I know you do... but Henry doesn't know that. Maybe we kept our secret too well, he never saw us falling in love. All he saw is us fighting one minute and telling him we're in love the next. I'm the Evil Queen. You're the Saviour, you're his hero. He worships you and I'm sure he's just trying to protect you. He wants to be your little hero too."

"I can take care of myself. It doesn't matter who you were before. To me you're  _Regina_ , the irritatingly stubborn, unbelievably beautiful woman who adopted my son and even though you get on my nerves and frustrate me every damn day I wouldn't change a thing. The Evil Queen is not all of who you are ok? Henry should know that better than anyone. I'll talk to him, since apparently he can't see for himself how much you've changed."

"I don't need you to defend me. You can't force him to trust me, Emma - or love me. Only I can earn that back."

"I know. I'm worried about both of you. We have a real chance to be happy here. I guess we just wait until he's comfortable telling us his reasons then we decide how to deal with it. So... we're okay aren't we? You and me?"

"Yes." Regina smiled even though it wouldn't be seen. "We're more than ok."

Emma sounded relieved. "I missed out on giving you a kiss goodbye this morning."

"Then you owe me, with interest accruing by the minute. I warn you, my rates are steep."

"I can afford it. I might have to work late tonight. But you can come collect your debt whenever you like..."

"It'll have to be later tonight then. Henry asked me to pick him up from school and I'm booked for the rest of today with meetings. Speaking of which, my 10am should be here soon."

"Alright. I suppose I can let you go." Emma gave a heavily exaggerated sigh. "If I must."

When Regina hung up the phone, it immediately buzzed with the usual indication that her guest had arrived. She pressed the Talk button and wondered why her assistant hadn't announced it properly.

Regina tapped her fingers on the desk impatiently. "Martha. Send Judge Bensen in… Martha?"

No answer.

She went over to open the door herself, ready to apologise to the Judge for the breach of protocol. Her assistant was sitting at the reception desk trying not to be obvious about smiling despite her insubordination.

Apparently her guest hadn't arrived yet, instead there was none other than Sheriff Emma Swan waiting in the receiving area with that cocksure hipshot stance she so favoured. Her smug face read 'I got  _so_  lucky last night' and it wasn't the only thing different about her this morning...

Regina raised her eyebrows in that 'I know what you're up to' way, as though to chastise her for trying it anyway.

"Sheriff Swan. I have a meeting now."

"Yeah, about that," Emma sauntered closer, giving her a less-than-subtle once-over. "Bensen is otherwise occupied. Break-in at home early this morning. Big mess to sort out. He said to tell you he won't be making his 10am."

"Even so, I am very busy."

"This won't take long."

Regina hid a thrilled smirk and as soon as she'd closed her office door behind them, she threw her arms around Emma's neck and kissed her soundly. One of Emma's hands caressed at her waist, threatening to untuck her blouse from her skirt, and the other was still hiding something behind her back.

Emma grinned and pecked her again. "Mm did you miss me? Of course you did. I missed me and I was with me."

Regina laughed softly because it sounded like something Em would say. "It's only been a couple of hours, Emma."

"I know. That's forever," came the mock-whine. "We had fun last night didn't we?"

"Technically it was early this morning I believe."

"More than just fun. Love makes it pretty good don't you think? I reckon we've hit double digits, but who's counting?"

Regina pursed her lips, trying to hide a delighted smile. She picked up a handful of blonde curls at the base of Emma's neck and let the locks fall any which way. Emma's hair was much longer now than it had been last year when she'd arrived in Storybrooke. Regina had been annoyed at herself at the time for admiring the contradiction of Emma's pretty doll-like features with her prince-ish attire. Skinny jeans, boots, leather jacket. Fair skin, startling green eyes, shining gold ringlets.

The curls were back.

"What's with these hm?" murmured Regina, twirling one curl around her index finger.

Emma shrugged innocently. "No reason."

"And what are you hiding behind your back? Besides your precious hair."

"Wouldn't you like to know."

Regina made a grab for whatever was behind Emma's back but she wasn't quick enough.

"Uh uh uh." Emma chuckled, but apparently she couldn't contain the secret any longer and presented her with a perfect long-stem rose.

"How romantic," Regina deadpanned, taking it and eyeing the full head of the blood-red bloom. She brushed one of the outer petals with her thumb.

"If you don't want it, give it back."

Regina's eyes flashed playfully. "No! It's mine."

"Ha. You're just like Ri sometimes. You always did fall for the corniest stuff. I'll make you a mix-tape later."

Emma scrunched her face, catching sight of the time. "I have to go. I gotta stop by Miss Ginger's to check on her on my way to KidSpace."

"Good. I'm far too busy for this," said Regina loftily. She accepted a peck on her cheek before turning away to return to her desk. "Sheriff, if she offers you any gingerbread don't eat it. It's always stale."

At the door, Emma poked her head back around. "Oh Regina? You might wanna check your lipstick in the mirror."

* * *

The rest of her day was busy but Henry was still on her mind. As soon as Regina got a chance she grabbed her phone and pressed one of her familiar speed dials.

"Dr Hopper, it's Mayor Mills."

Archie answered in his characteristic friendly voice. "Hi Regina, how are you."

"I realise this is late notice but are you available this afternoon to see Henry?"

"I have some time yes. Is this going to be as his therapist or as his friend? To be honest, I need to know."

"I'm not sure," admitted Regina. "He's acting strange."

"Strange how? Behavioural issues? Problems at school?"

"No, he's been very quiet and clingy but he won't say what's wrong. He found out about Emma and I and he said he doesn't want us to be together. I think it's because of me. He's still afraid I'm going to hurt Emma."

"Ah. Is he acting out against you again? Like when he found out you hadn't told him he was adopted?"

"No, that's the strange part. He's become more clingy towards  _me_. If he wanted us to be apart I would've expected him to side with Emma quite frankly."

"Well, his relationship with Emma is different to his relationship with you. Both of you are his mothers but Emma came into his life at an older age, you were the one who cared for him during his earliest years. Every time he was sick or sad or scraped a knee he turned to you."

Regina closed her eyes shamefully. "Except last year when I was the one hurting him and Emma came to his rescue."

"Yes. If he is regressing in this way now it's probably because there's something hurting him and he is naturally gravitating towards his primary caregiver. Perhaps he is seeking some type of comfort that only you can provide."

"What would that be?"

"I don't know. But you have a unique story, Regina. You've been through great pain and done terrible things, you've been alone and hated... Yet you are coming through it successfully. Perhaps Henry sees you in himself and he wants to know that he can be ok too."

"But my son isn't like me! He's good."

"He's told me previously in our sessions that he doesn't think he's as good as he should be. That makes him  _exactly_  like you, Regina."

* * *

_The diner, later that evening_

Granny barely raised her eyes from the accounts she was inspecting behind the counter when the bell rang signalling a new customer to the diner. She penned a figure in the totals column on the page, wondering to herself when or if she'd ever be able to convince Ruby to learn this particular aspect of running the place. Perhaps she could outsource to one of the fourth graders. Young Henry Mills was a smart child...

A large basket of apples was placed on the counter in front of her with a dull thud.

"You're late," said Granny.

"Yes," said the Mayor. "I'm aware that I am behind this month on delivering a supply of apples to you for free. Please accept my sincerest apologies."

"Easy for you to say," said Granny, looking at her over her glasses. "You're not the one getting death threats because there's no apple pie today. The citizens of Storybrooke are serious about their pie."

When Granny returned from taking the basket to the kitchen she noticed that the Mayor had taken a seat in one of the booths, far removed from the other patrons. Infant or adult, to someone who had known her well, Regina Mills had the same look about her. The one that begged for company and said  _'I don't want to be alone._ '

The elderly woman went to the coffee machine and prepared the steamed milk at the perfect temperature for a latte. The distinctive familiar smell of vanilla filled the air. Granny wondered if Regina even knew how long she'd had a penchant for that particular flavour. Her first solid food had been apple puree with a vanilla pod boiled through it. As her nurse, Mrs Lucas had been at her wit's end trying to wean the fussy then-Princess Regina after Cora had dismissed the wetnurse prematurely. The tiny girl had refused everything else, but as soon as the first silver spoonful of apple was placed on her tongue she was like a different child. There was one second of 'oh dear, what is this you're giving me!' and then a smile broke over the pretty baby's tear-stained cheeks.

Granny supposed she ought to feel guilty for dosing the grownup Regina with vanilla like this, but as anyone who has ever tried to soothe a baby from excessive crying knows … if it works, go with it.

She went over to place the mug on the table in front of the Mayor, who startled at the clunk sound as though jerked out of a deep thought.

"I'm not staying," said Regina hastily, eyeing the unordered drink. "I'm only waiting here for Henry."

"I've placed your usual dinner orders with the kitchen," said Granny, ignoring the comment. "Will the Sheriff be joining you?"

Regina regarded her with an impassive countenance, obviously pretending not to hear the implication behind the question. "I doubt it. Why would she?"

Granny smiled knowingly and stashed her notepad in her apron. "Hard to go back to isn't it?"

"What is."

"Eating dinner alone."

"I won't be staying for dinner." Regina seemed annoyed at having to repeat it. "Like I said, I'm waiting for Henry to finish talking with Dr Hopper."

"Looks like you could use somebody to talk to as well."

"I'm fine, Mrs Lucas."

Granny caught the accompanying eye roll, but she was used to the insolence of young people after raising her feisty granddaughter.

"Really?" said Granny. "Is that why you're staring at your phone there like you're hoping it will ring? My Ruby spends half her night texting away on her phone. I threatened to take it away once and she damn near bit my head off. I may be old but I'm not so decrepit as to not remember what it's like to be young and in love."

"Who says I'm in love," came the defensive retort.

"Anybody with eyes and ears." Granny shrugged and lowered herself into the opposite seat of the booth. "I have particularly keen senses... all the better to hear you with. If you feel you want to talk about it that is."

Regina took a sip of her vanilla latte and placed the mug back on the table in front. She stared at it silently for a while before speaking up.

"I... I'm afraid it's going to happen again," Regina admitted quietly. "I keep waiting for something to come and tear us apart."

Granny listened without interrupting as Regina slowly opened up and revealed her fear of losing someone else she loved. She spoke of feeling like she'd been given the gift of happiness, but wasn't able to fully enjoy it or trust that it was real because she was expecting it to be pulled out from under her feet again.

After what she'd done in the past, she knew that she was facing opposition in various quarters and sometimes believed herself that she didn't deserve this second chance - but she wanted it  _so_  much. Emma's parents had been irritatingly supportive (in fact, Regina admitted that she'd almost been looking forward to fighting the battle she expected but it hadn't eventuated) and other friends who either knew or suspected the relationship seemed willing to accept it as well.

But it was so  _confusing_  that she'd fallen for not only the daughter of her worst enemy but the woman who had tried to take away her son. How was it possible that she loved the one person she should loathe above all others? It remained unbelievable to her that Emma could know everything about her - really know her - and could still understand and forgive her. Defend her.  _Save_  her. Not just once but reliably, every single time she needed it.

She had found true happiness and yet again it was a child threatening to take that away from her.

But this time it was their own child.

She was terrified now that Henry might have to face the wrath of the Evil Queen. It'd happened before after all...

"I should never have let this happen," declared Regina, hand slicing the air like a blade. "I should've killed her before I fell in love with her. I knew who she was as soon as she turned up in Storybrooke. Snow White's daughter was in town to take away my son. I've done much worse for far less provocation. But something stopped me."

"What was it?" said Granny.

"I came to bring you the usual basket of apples but I passed by Miss Swan's room instead."

Regina rolled her eyes. "She answered the door in nothing but her underwear and a smirk. I gave her one of my apples and babbled to her about how sweet they are. I still have no idea why. A few hours later she was attacking the tree you gave me with a chainsaw. I can't explain it but that saved her life. She certainly got my attention. In more ways than one..."

"Loud and obnoxious." Granny chortled. "That does sound like our Sheriff Emma Swan."

"Indeed". Regina smiled. "The first time she kissed me I felt like I'd been woken from a dream and brought back to life. Would you like to hear the story?"


	35. Regina's story - the kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashbacks are set in S1 after Emma becomes Sheriff but before the events of Emma's story (Chapter 18)

**Last year**

Regina didn't even look up from her laptop when the new Sheriff walked into her office, responding to a terse summons to Town Hall she'd received by email that morning. Emma stood in front of her desk for several minutes before the Mayor even acknowledged her while she finished what she was doing.

Emma tapped her foot and rolled her eyes at the obvious power play.

"Seriously? I've got stuff to do, Madam Mayor."

"You will wait. This is important and so is what I need you for."

"I'll come back later when you're not busy."

"Since you obviously have no patience, Sheriff Swan, why don't you sit and we can get started."

Regina finally raised her eyes and gestured to the visitor's chair on the other side of her desk. Emma plopped into the chair and slouched lankily.

"What have you dragged me here for anyway?" said Emma.

Regina frowned. "You have been Sheriff now for two months. I'd have thought you'd want to be paid your salary at some point?"

"What?"

"Your employment paperwork was never processed fully when you started working for the town, and now that you are Sheriff there are more details to organise. Surely you noticed that you have yet to receive a paycheck?"

"Well yeah, but-"

Regina grabbed a bundle of forms from her tray. She took the first few from the top and tossed them on the desk in front of Emma landing them with a slap.

"Here. Fill these in. These are your contract, employment details, emergency contacts, firearm registration and licensing, taxation forms, life insurance policy, ..."

"Come off it," Emma whined, letting her know exactly what she thought about doing all that paperwork.

"Fine," snapped Regina. "Don't get paid. Work for free. I don't care if you starve and get evicted."

"This is going to take forever," grumbled Emma. "I hate paperwork."

"I could always fill in the paperwork terminating your employment for you if you'd prefer," offered Regina, glowering at the stubborn blonde.

Emma muttered. "Like I'd give you the satisfaction."

"Excuse me?"

"I only took this job to piss you off and it's working out great. I'll never give it up. So you can send me all the paperwork and crap jobs you like but I'm not gonna quit."

"Good. Because Henry wants an xbox for his next birthday and I refuse to buy one."

"Why. Aren't you like a millionaire or something?"

"I am not buying yet another video game for him to rot his brains with. He already has that other thing and a computer. I don't want his homework to suffer."

"Loosen the apron strings a little would you? He's just a kid. He'll be fine."

Regina ignored her, annoyed at the implications and at being shafted into her obvious role as the fun police yet again. She flicked through some more forms on her desk and then opened her drawer to retrieve the other ones she was looking for. She handed them to the Sheriff.

"You also need to do this."

Emma scanned the form quickly. "No."

"It is a condition of your employment," said Regina, gritting her teeth.

"No it's not. It says right here, it's optional. I'm not doing it."

"And I say you are."

"Look, I don't need a medical health assessment alright. I'm young and healthy. I'm not gonna keel over and die from some underlying condition. I've been doing way more dangerous stuff than this for ten years anyway. I'm fit for duty."

"Do I know that?" demanded Regina, pointing at her own chest. "How am I supposed to tell my son that his mother has gotten herself killed on the job?"

Emma's jaw dropped in shock at the outburst and she was actually speechless.

"Don't look at me like that," said Regina, eyes flashing. "I do not care about you. I care about Henry's mother."

"That's the same thing."

"It is  _not_."

It was just over two months since Graham's funeral. Half the town had turned out and Regina had felt Emma's eyes on her the whole time, still seething over the fight that'd brought them to blows. She'd somberly encountered people and maintained a tightly controlled outward appearance, but every now and then something had flickered through her. Something like guilt and that was not a familiar nor a welcome feeling.

Emma gave her a look of concern. "Are you worried because of what happened with Graham? That's not going to happen to me."

Regina shoved her chair back suddenly and got up to go to the window, staring out at her apple tree.

"I know," she said shortly.

"Why do you even care? If I die it'll solve all your problems," joked Emma, casually referencing her own death.

"Because of Henry," said Regina quietly, still with her back to her. "He'll be devastated if anything happens to you."

"What about you?"

Regina tightened her jaw. "I couldn't care less."

"You're lying."

Regina turned around slowly to see Emma still sitting in her chair now with her feet propped up on the desk, regarding her with a smug expression. She felt a sinking dread, remembering what Henry had told her about the superpower. The only times he'd talk to her these days was to chatter happily about his birth mother.  _Emma did this... and Emma did that...and Emma can tell when anyone is lying..._

"Get out of my office. We're done here."

"Oh, we're not finished yet-"

"Sheriff Swan-"

"-Not until you admit it."

"Sheriff Swan, leave now or the next time you see Henry he'll be taller than you are."

Emma nodded like she expected it and stood up. She stared at Regina shrewdly for a second before scooping up the paperwork from the desk in order to leave. "I'll have these done by next week."

"You will have them done by  _tomorrow_ ," said Regina, to show she was serious.

"Maybe." Emma shrugged nonchalantly on her way out. "Have a good day, Madam Mayor."

Regina watched her go silently, wondering when the hell she'd lost her power over the town and the people in it.

* * *

"Henry, who was at the door?"said Regina, appearing in the living room swiftly, wearing an apron and an oven mitt on one hand. When she noticed Emma standing there she startled out of surprise before she could cover it.

"Sheriff Swan. What are you doing here."

"Um, Henry let me in," said Emma awkwardly, looking as out of place as she must've felt. "I brought uh, that paperwork for you."

The air tensed between them for a second, each of them seemingly waiting for Regina to demand she get out immediately.

"She's staying for dinner," said Henry simply, before returning his attention to more important matters. "Emma, look what Mom got me!"

The boy pointed to the floor in front of the TV. There was a bunch of cables and electronic equipment lying in a haphazard tangle on the floor and also a small pile of thin lime-green edged boxes waiting nearby.

"Woah kid, that's awesome. An  _xbox_!" said Emma in an over-the-top voice bordering on sarcasm that would only be detected by one of the Millses. "You are one lucky kid. It's not even your birthday. Did you thank your Mom for the present?"

"Yeah. Let's play, Emma."

"Henry, dinner will be ready soon," hinted Regina.

"Ok. This is a cool game. Let's try this one but I'm going first," said Henry, kneeling on the carpet and looking through the stack of games.

Emma looked at Regina as if for permission, still apparently waiting to be ejected.

"Can you - " Regina gestured loosely with her hand, indicated the tangle on the floor. "- set it up for him?"

"Yep, I'm all over this, now begone and fix dinner," teased Emma.

Regina did intend to return to the kitchen but not before sending the blonde a death glare that could've destroyed the town.

Ever since he'd found out he was adopted, Henry was going through a phase of ignoring her. Regina's strategy in dealing with it was not to make a big issue of his little attempt at a powerplay and she trusted that he'd come back to her when he felt ready. But now not only was his birth mother ready to step in as the non-mean Mom, it was even more irritating that Emma was here to witness Regina's apparent failure to discipline her child.

Neither of the pair on the floor even noticed her leave the room.

Once Henry was set up and happily playing with the brand new xbox, Emma ducked into the kitchen for a minute where judging by the delicious aroma wafting through the house Regina was getting ready to serve.

Regina took the baking dish out of the oven just as Emma bumped into her trying to get out of her way. Instinctively Emma's hands went straight to Regina's hips as she moved around her. Regina sent her a look of annoyance and headed to the counter quickly to tend the dish of piping-hot lasagna.

"That smells amazing. Sorry I hit you," Emma said contritely.

"What? It was just a tap. Get out of my way if you're so fragile."

"Not now. I meant that fight we had weeks ago. I hit you."

"I hit you first. It's fine."

"No it's not," said Emma firmly. "I don't hit women."

Regina gave her a stare, half angry and half incredulous. "You realise you've managed to be both chivalrous and ironically sexist in one sentence don't you?"

"I didn't mean it like that. I got nothing against hitting some strung-out chick who's bashing me back but I don't hit people who aren't on my level when they're already hurting."

"Excuse me?"

"Regina. You're a single mom from the suburbs and you had just broken up with your boyfriend. I felt you go slack in my arms before Graham pulled me off you. You had nothing after that first punch. And you're kinda … puny. I could've killed you."

Regina could hardly believe her ears. If she'd had her powers she could have - and likely would have - reduced Emma to a pile of ash that day. But she hadn't had access to magic nor anyone to fight with in 28 years and the instinct to attack had come out physically instead of magically. But as Emma clearly suspected she'd never been in a fist-fight in her life.

"Are you saying I'm not  _dangerous_?"

Emma teased, "Oh you're plenty dangerous... but not with your fists. What are you gonna do, poison my lasagna? Listen, I'm not trying to offend your pugilistic skills. You're scrappy when you're ragey. But I'm strong and I've trained for years, I can take down a two hundred pound guy if I have to."

Emma moved closer so she could put her fingers under Regina's chin and stroke her thumb across the skin. "I must've really hurt you."

Regina stiffened at the touch and immediately extricated herself from under Emma's armour-piercing gaze.

Why was she trying to emphasize the advantage she had over her in physical strength? Emma was right about the fight of course. In the split second that she'd been grabbed and forced against the concrete wall of the vault, Regina knew she'd picked a fight that she couldn't win without magic and she  _hated_  it.

"Sorry for throwing you around," Emma whispered.

Why was she apologising and why did she even care? Why was she staring at Regina's lips like that? The bruise had healed weeks ago.

"Is it ready yet, Mom?" Henry said, leaning around the doorway on one hand.

"Yes, we're eating now," said Regina. "Have you washed your hands?"

"Yes," he sighed impatiently.

"You're lying, kid," said Emma easily. "Go do it."

When he ran off Regina began to busy herself with getting out plates and glasses and cutlery. She cut up sections of the lasagna ready to put them onto three plates along with servings of salad, then went to uncork a bottle of wine. All while under Emma's watchful gaze.

"You want me to get Henry to set the table?" offered Emma.

"No, it's fine."

"Sure?"

"Yes. He won't do it anyway."

"He will if I ask him to."

"Exactly," said Regina exasperatedly. "Do you think I want him to obey me only because you ask him to?"

"I'll talk to him."

"No! Did you not hear what I just said?"

Emma switched topics in a flash. "So what's with getting Henry the xbox huh? Changed your mind?"

"Yes. I am allowed to do that aren't I? I said he could have it provided he kept up with his homework. He's been pestering me for ages over it. That's what children do."

"Uh huh," said Emma in the tone whenever she used her lie-detector and was just humouring someone. "You can't buy the kid's love you know."

Regina grabbed the plates and a fistful of cutlery ready to take into the dining room. She stopped to give Emma a baleful look.

"Yes, thank you, I do know that. I'm completely aware that I don't have his love."

* * *

All throughout dinner Henry kept chattering about the new game system and school and comics and whatever else he could think of. But he was mostly just talking to Emma since Regina hadn't heard him talk so much in a long time and definitely not when they two were alone. Emma kept glancing twitchily at her like she expected to get thrown out at any second.

"Thanks for dinner, Regina," said Emma politely. "I'll deny it till my dying breath if you tell anyone but your lasagna is way better than Mary Margaret's."

"Mom makes the best food," declared Henry. "Lasagna's my favourite."

Regina smiled at him but it was rather thin.

"I'm finished. Can I go, Mom? My show's on."

"Yes, go on," said Regina. "But the TV is going off at 8.30 understand?"

Henry grabbed Emma's hand but met resistance. "Come on, let's go."

"Kid, I'm just gonna finish my wine and talk to your Mom ok?"

Henry let his head drop in frustration and then walked off with a funny stomp. "Grrr, Emma, you're boring too."

When he was gone the two of them lapsed into an awkward silence so they each sipped at their wine for something to do. Regina was the first to lose patience with the silence but instead of speaking she got up to start clearing the plates away.

"Regina, sit down," Emma chided. "Finish your wine. Nobody's gonna die if you don't do the dishes within five minutes - or five days even. I'll do them later for you."

"You are not doing my dishes." Regina muttered, sitting back down. "Do you want dessert? Or more wine?"

"You can't help yourself can you. Stop hosting. Just sit and talk to me would you? Have a conversation that doesn't involve The Hulk or Gears of War."

"Gears of  _what_?"

Emma pursed her lips into a smile. "You have no idea what you bought do you? I'm taking that game back to the shops before he realises. He is not playing that. It's violent as hell."

"What would I know about xbox?" said Regina wearily.

"Well for a start, Henry just word-vomited about it for an hour..."

Regina refrained from commenting, not wanting to have to admit to Emma that Henry didn't usually talk to her like that. So she changed the subject quickly.

"The frisbee's been on the roof for months. You're getting it down on Saturday."

Emma laughed. "What? The other day you were worried I was gonna get shot by some random goon and now you want me up on the roof so I can probably fall and break my neck?"

"I don't care if you do come down off the roof as long as the frisbee does too."

"Ok. Wear something low-cut then. If I have to get up on the roof I want a chance to look down your dress."

"Excuse me?!"

"I was kidding." Emma raised her eyebrows. "Regina, I get it. Being a single mom is hard. Graham used to do your guy stuff didn't he."

Regina stared at her in irritation. "Even if he did you are not replacing him, no matter how much you swagger around the place. And yes, being a single mom is hard. What would you know of it."

"Nothing. Because you won't let me."

Regina leapt up and starting stacking the dishes roughly before stalking off. Emma grabbed the glasses and the last of the dinner things and followed after her.

In the kitchen, Regina plonked the plates down with a clatter before rounding on her shadow with fiery eyes. When she whirled around Emma was too close, right next her placing the delicate glassware carefully next to the sink. She didn't know whether Emma was more annoying when she was being a thorn in her side or when she was being considerate.

"Regina, can I-"

"Do you think it's easy being the one saying 'no no no' all the time? Especially when he hates me already and some outsider comes in filling his head with Twinkies and fun time? I can't compete with that. It's been hard enough doing it alone."

"Then let me help you," said Emma softly.

"No. We are not playing happy families."

"Why."

"Because all you'll do is replace me completely. This is all I have with him and you want to take over that too?"

"No, I just want to-"

"He's allergic to penicillin," Regina started ranting heatedly, reminiscent of the first day they'd met. "He was hospitalised at six months for projectile vomiting. He used to bite the other children at daycare before he grew out of it. Once he threw a tantrum in a toy store so bad that we got thrown out and banned from shopping there ever again. He was a little terror when he was teething or sick, one time he cried for three days straight and when Graham turned up to check on us I threw the baby at him and locked myself in the bathroom for ten minutes' peace and I was in tears because I didn't know what I was doing wrong.

"Nothing can prepare you for what parenthood is really like, no matter how ready you think you are there's nothing in life compared to the sleeplessness, the tiredness, the constant worry over your child. But when they smile and recognise you for the first time, or when the baby giggles in his sleep, or when he runs to you at the school gates saying 'Mommy Mommy Mommy look what I did'... the love they give you makes up for the rest a thousand times over.

"But you wouldn't know about any of that because you weren't there. You didn't have to put up with all of it. You haven't earned the good part of parenting.  _But I was there_...

"So tell me what it is you do, Emma. How do you make him go to you so easily? You've only been in town five minutes and he loves you already. And I-" Regina's voice choked and she cut herself off.

"Regina, he does love you. For all the reasons you just said. You're his Mom."

"I don't think he does," she said in a light but humourless tone. Regina could feel the tears start to form in her eyes and was dismayed that Emma would see them.

"The reason I know that is because he's just like you. Here." Emma reached out to lay her fingertips above Regina's heart. "No matter how angry he is, he hasn't forgotten how much he loves you."

Regina's eyes met hers searchingly, locking on fiercely as if questioning what she meant.

Emma placed her hands on either side of Regina's face and hesitated before moving in slowly, checking to see if she'd get pushed away. She paused at the last second, only millimetres away, before finally joining their lips softly. Regina gasped into it like she was drowning and Emma was oxygen. Her eyes fluttered closed. Her already pounding heart-rate shot up and she responded immediately when Emma hungrily deepened the kiss.

The heat went straight to her lower body when she felt Emma press her hips into hers and wrapped her arms around her. Regina began threading her fingers through a tangle of blonde curls before placing a hand on the other woman's chest.

But it was to push her away, not to caress. Regina broke the kiss and pushed Emma back in shock so she could extricate herself from the embrace.

"Wh- what are you doing?" she panted.

Emma shook her head vaguely, confused by the rejection.

"No. We're not doing this." Regina held out a hand like a stop sign, backing away. "Go watch TV with Henry until he goes to bed at 8.30."

"Regina, don't. Please. We have to talk about this-"

"You can let yourself out, Sheriff Swan."

Regina ran out of the kitchen, disappearing into some other part of the house leaving Emma standing there without even knowing why.

* * *

"Oh my god. You can't just stop it THERE," shrieked Ruby. She'd slid into the booth next to Granny at some point during Regina's narration and was eagerly hanging on every word.

Granny pointed her granddaughter back towards the diner. "Go. Waitress. Customers."

Ruby groaned like it was the worst thing ever. "But I want to know what happens. Don't start again until I come back ok?"

"Ruby," Granny chastised.

While the two Lucases continued to argue over diner work and whether it should be done, Regina surreptitiously checked her phone. There were three new messages.

_Dr Archibald Hopper: Hello Regina. If it's alright with you, Henry and I will order in and talk some more. Regards, A.H._

_Mary Margaret Blanchard (tombstone icon): Hi Regina! Henry was ok at school today but he seemed a bit down by the time the last bell rang. I figured that you and Emma would probably get dinner together with Henry later and the girls are having leftovers at my place, so David and I are going for a romantic candlelit dinner at Pendragon's. Could you two sleep at your house again tonight? ;)_

_Emma Swan: Hey R how did H go at the shrink appointment? I'm gonna be late sry, got a call out. Don't wait up._

Regina typed back terse replies to all of the people who'd abandoned her, wishing that she could send fireballs by SMS. They couldn't have done a more effective job of pissing her off than if they'd coordinated their efforts. She wasn't sure which of them to be more annoyed at right now.

Once Ruby had stormed off to the kitchen, Regina heard Granny chuckle and say, "I'm glad I'm not on the receiving end of that. Your face looks like a thundercloud."

Regina sighed. "It appears that I'm here for dinner after all."

Granny played with her glasses chain. "So. Last year. Emma wanted to spend more time with you and Henry. But you didn't want to play 'happy families' as you called it. What about now?"

"Emma says we're a family but I'm not certain we're all happy," said Regina. "Something's going on with Henry."

"What about you. Are you happy with Emma?"

"Yes," Regina blurted out. "I think of her all the time. Her idiotic jokes make me laugh in spite of myself. I miss her when she's not with me and my heart skips a beat when I see her. Before I met her I thought I'd never feel like this again."

"Did you tell Emma that last year?"

"No," Regina scoffed. "I was trying my hardest to get rid of her."

Granny raised an eyebrow. "Sounds to me like you weren't trying very hard."

"Miss Swan always did have a way of turning up when I least expected her to. I rejected her after our first kiss, so coming over to my house again was the last thing I expected her to do..."


	36. Regina's story - the blow

"Ok what'd I miss?" Ruby plonked back down in the booth completely out of breath from rushing through her orders.

Granny shot her a look. "You almost missed the table when you were serving the Bakers just now. Mrs Baker nearly ended up with special bean stew on her lap."

"Something which could only improve her outfit I'm sure," said Regina dryly.

"I know right," Ruby whispered. "What is that supposed to be? It looks like something I've eaten. After I've eaten it."

"Ruby!" hissed Granny.

"What? It does and Regina agrees with me." Ruby leaned in closer across the table. "So tell me. You and Emma. The sex is totally hot right?"

"Ruby," said Granny, shooting her granddaughter a warning look before Regina could answer. "Behave."

"Throw a girl a bone. It's good, right? There was one time I got into a discussion with Emma about whether it'd be better with a girl than with a guy and she said-"

"Ruby, for the last time," Granny cut her off exasperatedly. "Cut it out with the inappropriate questions."

"Whatever." Ruby was finally chastened into dropping her line of interrogation.

Granny said to Regina, "Her shift is over soon. Just say the word and I'll send her off."

"No, it's fine."

Ruby brightened. "So. When did you first realise you had the hots for Emma? And why was she even at your house, I missed the first part of the story. That was your first kiss right?"

Regina smiled and recounted the events of that ill-fated evening again. "Emma, typical of her charming self, invited herself over to dinner at my house. Henry loved it. He looked like all his birthdays had come at once just by having her there. But I was jealous. Henry worshipped her and at the time he would hardly even talk to me. After dinner, we were alone in the kitchen and I was upset. Emma tried to comfort me.

"We kissed for the first time and it was-" Regina shook her head slowly. "Too much. I pushed her away."

"What happened next?" asked Ruby eagerly.

"Technically she never agreed to it but if Emma turned up that Saturday I was planning to throw her out in two seconds," said Regina. "But she came over for the whole day to play with Henry... and I thought maybe it wasn't just because of him. It felt like she wanted to spend time with me too. The longer she was there the more I could picture her being around, taking care of us, making us laugh, filling in the empty void I didn't even realise was there..."

* * *

**Last year**

It was Saturday. Regina's heart jumped into her throat hearing a sharp knock and little footsteps racing to get the door. From inside the study she heard Emma's voice. "Hey kid, I hear you got a frisbee stuck on the roof. Want me to get it down?"

"Yay, Emma, you're here!" said Henry.

At least he was happy to see someone. Regina pictured her son's face lighting up in happy surprise and tried to remember a time when he was that pleased to see her.

Unbeknownst to the mother-son duo, Regina tracked them through a gap in the curtains at the back window. Emma must've gotten Henry to open the garage for her so she could retrieve the house ladder and then carried it out to the backyard under one arm, the tall steel clattered together the whole way. The blonde had dressed for the part in knee-length cargo shorts and a white tanktop and her mess of curly hair was tied up in a haphazard bun.

"Kid, do you remember roughly where it is?" asked Emma, hoping to narrow down the search.

Henry shrugged so Emma placed the base of the ladder on the ground and released the catch. The steel clattered as the top section released and she lent it against the eaves.

Regina joined them outside under the guise of investigating what all the noise was. "Sheriff Swan, what are you doing here?"

"But you said to- oh-" stammered Emma.

The way Emma was staring at her had Regina half-regretting her appearance. Her hair was slightly curled at the ends since she hadn't styled it properly and had left it to dry naturally instead. She was wearing dress pants and a white blouse with a ruffle around the scoop neckline. And it was  _low-cut_. Regina was inordinately pleased that Emma hadn't failed to notice.

After the post-kiss awkwardness of the other night, she was surprised that Emma had even turned up and saw with pleasure that she actually looked awkward and nervous to see her.

Emma gulped visibly. "I mean, sorry. I'll just get the frisbee down off the roof for Henry."

"Don't fall."

"Yes, thanks for that helpful advice," teased Emma. "Wasn't planning on it."

Regina stood with Henry to watch Emma ascend the ladder. She reached out from where she was and got hold of the frisbee and threw it down to the ground.

"There ya go, kid," Emma called. "One rescued frisbee. Although I'm still not sure why I'm up here risking my neck for a two-dollar piece of plastic you could get anywhere."

"Because I asked you to, Sheriff Swan," said Regina wryly, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, sure." Emma grinned down at her for a second. "Hey, there's some more stuff up here."

There was a whole collection of balls and toys still up on the roof. It looked like a museum to Henry's childhood. Almost as if whenever a toy had gone up on the roof no-one had ever gotten it down and it was gone forever. Emma pushed herself up and climbed onto the roof.

"What are you doing?" called Regina.

"Don't die, Emma!" Henry chimed in.

Emma stepped on the tiles carefully and picked up each toy before tossing it to the lawn below. She made her way back to the ladder and got her footing back on the rungs.

"Relax, Mills family. I got this," said Emma, then grinned to herself so they couldn't see. "Woah, uh oh!"

Emma rocked the ladder dangerously and pretended to lose her grip. The pair on the ground were fooled instantly.

"Emma!" they cried out to her.

She stilled and turned around laughing, coming down the ladder safely. "Ha. Got ya's big time."

Regina gave her a dirty glare and picked one of the tennis balls off the ground and pegged it at Emma's shoulder. The ball hit her with a swift smack and fell to the grass.

"Ouch! It was just a joke, Regina." Emma rubbed her shoulder. "You might punch like a girl but gee you got an arm on you. You ever think of trying out for softball?"

Regina stalked inside after that, leaving the two of them in the backyard. She paused at the door and looked back at them.

"Let's play," said Emma, picking up the frisbee.

Henry scrunched his face unenthusiastically. "Boring."

"Well, what have you been doing all morning that's so interesting then?"

He shrugged. "Reading."

Emma sighed. "Kid, now that I got this thing down we're playing frisbee ok."

* * *

It was such a perfect day, a clear blue sky and bright sunlight that fell on the greenery of the backyard. To anyone who didn't know the truth, they would've looked like a perfect family enjoying the weekend and the pleasant weather. Naturally, it was just about time for something to go wrong.

The two of them were still playing when Regina came back outside to ask them if they wanted drinks. Henry wasn't very good at the game and Emma kept trying to get him to watch how she was flicking her wrist to throw the disc properly so it would rotate in the air in a steady horizontal plane. Emma really was great with her son, Regina thought with a pang. She wondered what it'd be like if they -

The frisbee sailed over and Regina looked up just in time to flinch as it hit her in the bridge of the nose. Her hand went immediately to cover the injury by instinct as the pain radiated through her face.

Emma's mouth dropped open in horror. "Oh god I'm gonna die for this..." her voice tremored.

"Mom, does it hurt?" said Henry.

Emma started to apologise as if her life depended on it - which it did. "Regina! I am so sorry. It was an accident. Our kid can't catch for shit but I'll teach him. I didn't mean to hit you. Are you ok?"

Regina merely gave her a leaden glare and then removed her hand to reveal the damage.

"Ohhh, holy fu-!" Emma cried, stopping herself from swearing in front of Henry just in time by clapping a hand over her mouth.

The entire lower half of Regina's face was covered in blood, it flowed from her nose all over her mouth and was starting to drop from her chin onto her white shirt.

Emma ran to Regina and pinched the bridge of her nose with one hand and held the other at the base of her neck.

"Don' tilt my head back, idiot! I'm not habing blood run dow' my throat," Regina said nasally.

"I had a nosebleed once. It tasted yum," said Henry helpfully. "Are you ok, Mom?"

"Eww, Henry! Run inside and get a box of tissues. Go," ordered Emma.

Emma walked them both backwards like an awkward crab to sit her down on the back porch steps. She murmured apologies nervously, still holding the bloody nose tightly.

"Why is it still bleeding? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"It's fi'ne. I'b had worse," said Regina calmly.

"The fuck you have!" cried Emma. "Ugh, this is horrible."

Henry reappeared and held out the box of tissues. Emma grabbed at them over and over and then pressed a huge wad of tissue to Regina's face where it started to soak up blood immediately.

"Henry, go back inside and get a sports icepack from the freezer," instructed Emma.

"We don' hab any," said Regina.

Henry shook his head. "I don't play sports."

Emma groaned at them both. "Ok, go get a bag of frozen peas or something and wrap it in a couple of tea towels."

While they waited, Emma checked under the bloody tissues. The blood seemed to have stopped flowing quite so much.

"Why doesn't the kid play sport? He's playing something next year, I don't care what."

"He likes reading."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I suppose you don't play sport or anything either."

"Whad? Of course not. I don' exercise. I run around after a ten-year-old."

"How is it you look like you do then? That's the unholiest thing I ever heard. Gotta be witchcraft."

"Whad do you mean?" said Regina worriedly.

"Oh you know, Henry's book. The Evil Queen thing. Doesn't she eat the hearts of young girls to stay beautiful or something?"

"I haben't read it. Thad sounds horrible."

"Ha, yeah. Should I be worried?" Emma joked, stroking her fingers lightly across the back of Regina's neck and through her hair.

Regina's answer was a barely audible, "Yes."

* * *

The bleeding had finally stopped so Regina had gone upstairs to clean her face and change shirts. Emma was waiting downstairs, getting rid of the mess of bloody tissues and disposing of the bag of now-defrosted peas into the trash after it'd been used as a makeshift cold compress.

"I really am sorry, Regina," said Emma, immediately hopping off the kitchen bench after she came back into the room. She went straight to her and both her hands went to cup Regina's face, but the injured woman shrugged her off.

"It's fine," said Regina. "Stop apologising, it's getting irritating."

"Sorry," said Emma, ever the smartass.

Regina rolled her eyes at her. But truthfully, her face was feeling stuffy and sore. She hoped that she wouldn't wake up tomorrow with two blackened eyes. There was only so much a good concealer could do - it wasn't magic after all. There was no way she would let Emma see her like that.

"So I thought I'd take Henry to soccer tryouts next season?" suggested Emma.

"He went two years ago and then didn't want to play anymore."

"Maybe something else then?"

Regina bristled. "Are you under the impression that I've been stopping him from playing sports or something? I know I'm not half the man you are but I haven't deprived my son."

Emma held her hands out angrily. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I let him try whatever he wanted. Soccer, tennis, scouts. He didn't like any of them. When he was five I took him fishing down at the marina and he hated it. We didn't last five minutes before he dumped the bait in the water saying he wanted them to be free and live again. They did not live again. He cried until we got home. I don't force interests upon him anymore."

"Alright, he's really into reading and the fairytales stuff but I don't think it's good for him to be alone so much. Does he even have any friends?"

"He's fine."

"I know. But I can't help him with homework. You're all over the smart stuff. I just wanted there to be something I could help him with. Something we could do together."

"What are you complaining about. He follows you around like he's your shadow."

"It'd be even better if the three of us could do something together. So uh," Emma paused to take a breath. "Would you want go for a walk to the park with me and Henry sometime?"

"Why," said Regina suspiciously.

Emma shrugged. "It's exercise. Gets you out of the house."

"What's wrong with my house."

"Nothing. It'll do you guys good."

Regina narrowed her eyes. "Why is that?"

"Exercise is great for stress relief. No wonder you're so uptight. All you do is work and read."

"Who says I'm stressed?"

Emma gave her a look as if to say 'really, you have to ask?'. "Exercise gives you endorphins or something, it makes you feel good. The only thing that's better is sex and since we're both single we might as well."

Regina's lips parted in shock. "Might as well  _what_."

"Exercise together… unless you want to have sex?"

"Why do you have to keep joking like that. It's not funny," Regina snapped.

"I know, I'm sorry," Emma said contritely. "You only just lost Graham. Were you and he together long?"

"Thir – three years," amended Regina, trying to keep up with the rapid questions.

"That's a long time for a relationship. It takes a while to get over losing someone you cared about."

"I didn't ... love him," said Regina vaguely.

"I guess I'm relieved to hear that. He told me he didn't love you. Actually he said he felt nothing. What was he doing stringing you along like that? A bad relationship stops both parties from finding someone they  _can_  be happy with. It's not like people get trapped forever in arranged marriages anymore. Not here, at least."

"What," Regina whispered.

"Anyway, I - um," Emma stammered nervously. "I was just hoping that maybe – uh, one day, when it gets a bit easier to deal with – that you might consider having a relationship again. Um, with me?"

Regina felt her chest tighten as the breath got sucked out of her lungs. She was usually so carefully composed but right now she could barely get a coherent response together. What was Emma thinking asking this of her now?

"Regina? Ok I know it's complicated because of Henry and everything but we can start slow, whatever you want. I mean, we kinda get on each other's nerves a bit but that kiss the other day - it was really something special. I felt it. You know? I like you. A lot. It feels right, I can't explain it but I want more. It feels like I've known you forever. I thought maybe you might feel the same way and if you do that'd be..." Emma trailed off. "Please can you just say something so I know..."

Regina closed her eyes for a second and shook her head. "We can't be in a relationship- you don't know that I'm– I can't because you're-"

"Oh," said Emma flatly. "I get it."

"You do?"

"You know, out of all the arguments I expected to hear I didn't even think you'd go for that one. But I can't help that, Madam Mayor.  _Sorry_."

Emma left and only once she was already gone Regina realised what she meant, that she'd gotten the wrong idea entirely.

But the right idea was far worse.

* * *

Granny took it all in shrewdly. "She thought you didn't want a relationship with her because she's a woman?"

"Yes," said Regina.

"When really it was because of you being the Evil Queen, her being Snow White's daughter, and the curse being real," said Granny.

Ruby cringed in sympathy. "Eesh. That's an interesting twist on ' _It's not me, it's you … but it really is me_ '. I've heard that one plenty of times and it sucks. Poor Emma."

Regina nodded slowly. "She kissed me again sometime later, but I made certain that it would be the last time. It was until recently."

"But how did you deal with it?" said Ruby. "Feeling that strongly about her, seeing her all the time and not being able to do anything about it?"

"I tried to ignore it," Regina admitted. "I thought I only cared about Emma because she was Henry's birth mother. I thought that I was attracted to her because she was so great with him and I was just looking for someone to step in as his other parent. I told myself I was merely searching for the the traits I loved in my son and finding them in her..."

* * *

**Last year**

Regina was in bed though the lights were still on and she was sitting up with her back against the headboard. She wasn't reading or doing any paperwork or anything like she usually would after Henry was asleep. Instead she was just sitting and staring, occasionally glancing at the empty space next to her.

The alarm clock on the bedside table read 8.34pm.

She heard the front door close and even though her bedroom was at the back of the house, the next sound was the characteristic rumble of Emma's VW bug finally driving away.

What a disaster today's impromptu playdate had turned out to be for her. Without even asking permission Emma Swan had waltzed into her life and picked her up like a cardboard box to tip all of her contents out onto the floor. The day had started off fairly well and then rapidly descended into an icy awkwardness between them after the frisbee incident and its aftermath.

Emma had made her an offer she could only refuse.

Regina closed her eyes and pressed her hand over her nose and mouth, which was feeling very sore already. But all it did was remind her of a blow and a kiss from the same woman. Her mind replayed Emma's offer of a romantic relationship over and over. She couldn't have accepted it even if she wanted to - but  _did_  she want to? She hadn't sacrificed everything for this new life just to risk losing it all over again. The curse was weakening day by day.

Loving Emma Swan wasn't safe. Losing Henry wasn't an option... But the sight of Emma's face when she'd confessed to having feelings for her, it was hopeful at first then disappointed. She looked much younger than her 28 years in that moment. She looked rejected. Hurt. Regina couldn't get it out of her mind, it was like she wanted to embrace her and keep her warm and reassure her that she was still wanted. But  _why_? It wasn't her place to do so. It never would be. What did Emma think would happen by asking her such a thing? Did she really think that they could be together?

_She wouldn't ask if she knew who she really was. If she knew who I was she would never even consider it. I can't keep the truth from her and have her too._

Her eyes snapped up in surprise to see Henry coming into her bedroom, dragging his feet toward the bed. He had a little smile on his face and climbed up on the bed. He plonked himself facedown on the bedspread like a slug and crawled up close to her side.

"Hi Mom."

She reached out to smooth her hand over his head. "Nearly ready for bed, Henry?"

"Not tired," mumbled Henry, contradicting himself. "Thanks for letting Emma stay."

"I'm glad you had fun with Emma today, Henry."

_Not the kind of fun I could've had with her!_  Regina's brain came up with the thought to her own annoyance. Their kiss the other day had barely lasted 28 seconds and yet it was the most she'd felt in 28 years. Or longer. And apparently all she'd had to do to make Henry happy was give him time with Emma as well.

It'd felt so good kissing her. So right. Familiar even. It was too much of everything and the feeling was overwhelming. Emma was right, they did have something special. She hadn't felt this in her heart since she was a teenager, she'd fallen in love so quickly then too -  _No_.  _Don't start with that._  This is  _not_  like that. There's no point in wishing for what could never happen. Wishes never come true.

"...you should play together."

"Sorry?" said Regina weakly, realising she hadn't been listening.

"I said, you should let Emma come over more often. You could borrow my xbox if you want, but only when I'm not playing it. Emma sucks at it too, she hasn't had much practice either so you'd be a good match for each other."

That just seemed to remind the boy of something and he pulled a rectangle of cardboard out of his pocket that had been folded in half. He handed it to her.

"I got an award at school yesterday. My team won the titration competition. We got extra points because of that thing you showed me how to do."

Regina opened the certificate filling up with motherly pride. "This is wonderful, Henry. I'm so proud of you. I know how hard you've worked hard for this."

Henry shrugged his little shoulders and smiled modestly.

"What did Emma say?" asked Regina.

"I didn't tell her. I don't think she knows what titration is."

Regina laughed in spite of herself. "No. She probably doesn't."

"She told me that chemistry is for nerds and I look like Harry Potter when I do stuff with the chemistry kit."

Regina thought that sounded just like something Emma would say. She didn't know if her son's birth mother was good with children in general but she had such a camaraderie with Henry. Or  _maybe_ , the thought gave her a sinking feeling, it really was down to genetics and biology and maternal instincts. Maybe what people say is true, that nothing compares to a child being raised by its birth parents. Maybe she'd been kidding herself all this time. Maybe her ten years with Henry had been borrowed time and it was running out. Now his real mother was here.

_How can I compete with that?_

Her heart whispered to her that perhaps the answer was not to compete but to share.

She looked over at her son ( _her_  son?) and saw that he hadn't moved in a while. He'd fallen asleep. He was too heavy for her to carry anymore so she leant over to pull the covers out from under him and tucked him in beside her and then switched off her lamp.

Regina put an arm around Henry and hugged him to her. She was tired but she fought sleep as long as she could, knowing that if he was awake he would probably wriggle away from her. She savoured it, wondering if it would be the last time she'd get to hold him like that before she lost him for good.

* * *

"I gotta go, my shift's over," said Ruby hastily. Her eyes darted towards the diner entrance as the bell rang signalling a new customer.

"Me too." Granny slid out of the booth after her granddaughter. Her arthritic joints protested stiffly as she stood up. "This place doesn't run itself."

Regina tried not to sigh as they too left her alone with lonely memories fresh in her mind. She was starting to regret spilling her innermost secrets to them now. She fiddled with the handle of her mug of now-cold vanilla latte. Neither it nor staying around for a similarly lonely meal seemed appealing in the slightest. She decided not to bother anymore and slid out of the booth to leave.

But just as she stood up without watching what she was doing, Regina nearly collided with someone.

"Hey, I'm starving. Is that seat taken?"


	37. Outed

Double Trouble 37

 

Chapter 37 ‘Outed’

 

Regina’s heart skipped a beat in the now-familiar way and she stared in awe at the last person she expected to see tonight. “Emma! I didn’t think-”

 

“That I’d be here? Yeah, me neither.” Emma smiled. 

 

The Sheriff was still in her work clothes and she was disheveled and dusty from head to toe. Her tangle of messy curls was piled up into a haphazard bun and there was even a patch of dirt on her face. She was slightly out of breath, judging from the way her chest was heaving, and whatever exertion she’d recently been involved in had left her with sparkling green eyes and a pink glow in her cheeks.

 

“So do you wanna-”

 

Regina leaped forward to plant a messy kiss on Emma’s mouth, without a thought of where they were or who was around. It was probably the least graceful thing she’d ever done but as soon as their lips met her loneliness dissipated in an instant. How different this felt! Compared to her memories of last year when their relationship had been so uncertain. Back then Emma had kissed her first, passionately, and then offered her a happiness she hadn’t been able to accept at the time for so many reasons.

 

Now Emma was hers to kiss almost whenever she felt like doing so. Regina knew that she must be happy, as far as she was able to be, though the feeling hadn’t quite sunk in yet.

 

“Hi,” Emma said breathily. “Nice to see you too.”

 

They both took a seat opposite each other in the booth.

 

“I got your message,” said Regina. “You said you were going to be out late?” 

 

“I know. I had a disagreement with somebody near the high school, I thought he should be placed under arrest and he didn’t. I’m pretty sure his Fairytale name was Jack Be Nimble because I ended up having to chase him all over the damn field.” Emma looked down at her dirty clothing with a grimace. “Sorry. I should’ve gotten changed first but I wanted to see you.”

 

“No! I don’t mind you being dirty,” Regina was quick to say. 

 

“Oh really? That’s something we should explore later tonight.” Emma waggled her eyebrows. “But first... here’s the other eleven.” 

 

Reinga heard a crinkly rustle as Emma brought out something she’d had in her hand the whole time without her noticing. It appeared to be a bouquet of red roses wrapped in cellophane that matched the single rose she’d left in a vase in her office. 

 

“I wanted us to go on a date tonight so I made reservations at Pendragon’s but I ended up giving them to my parents because I thought I had to work late but then-”

 

Just before Regina could take the bouquet in her hand, Emma dropped it onto the table in front and accidentally knocked over the mug of vanilla latte straight into the Mayor’s lap. Regina flinched at first, then she was stunned as the tepid coffee soaked through her blouse and expensively tailored skirt.

 

“Oh shit! I’m sorry,” Emma started to apologise profusely. 

 

Regina shook her head and tried not to laugh at the genuine horror on Emma’s face. She took the wad of napkins that Emma had grabbed from the dispenser on the table and patted at her ruined skirt.

 

“It’s fine, dear. I’ve had worse. From you - and your son.”

 

“Ok, imposter. Who are you and what’ve you done with my girlfriend,” said Emma warily. “There’s no way the real Regina doesn’t threaten to kill me after I spill coffee all over her clothes.”

 

“You can replace them. Perhaps I should also back-charge you for all of the outfits that your son ruined over the years.”

 

“Oh so he’s my son when he’s messy and he’s your son when he’s acing chemistry, is that it?”

 

“Yes. That sounds right.”

 

“Hi ladies, how are we tonight?” One of the diner waitresses appeared with their two meals. She set a plate of pasta in front of Regina and a junior burger with extra fries in front of Emma and then left. “Enjoy.”

 

Emma furrowed an eyebrow. “You ordered for us. How’d you know?”

 

“I didn’t.” Regina smiled. “Mrs Lucas ordered, assuming that I’d be eating with Henry after his session. But he’s having dinner with Archie now.” 

 

Emma still didn’t look convinced. “Okaaay. So are you really suggesting that we should give this a go? Because the way this started off it promises to be the worst first date ever.”

 

“It’s not that bad, Emma. Really.”

 

“Regina. We’re in the diner. I’m covered in dirt, you’re covered in coffee. Maybe we should just call it a night and start over some other time. This isn’t how I wanted it to go. I’m sorry our date got ruined.”

 

“It’s not ruined. As you know, I have a distinct lack of such experiences for comparison so according to me this is already the best date I’ve ever been on.”

 

“Then you are easily pleased.” Emma smiled, turning her own words back on her.

 

Regina smirked in return. “We’ll see. That’s something we should definitely explore later tonight.”

 

________________________________________

 

Archie watched the boy push food around his plate with a fork. “Do you want something else, Henry?”

 

Henry shrugged. “Not really.”

 

“Your mother just messaged to say she’ll be here to pick you up whenever you’re ready.”

 

“She’s probably with Emma.” Henry sighed heavily.

 

“Does it make you feel left out that your mother is dating someone?” Archie paused to see if the boy would answer. “Or is it who she’s dating that’s the problem.”

 

“No, I want them to be together. That way Em and Ri will have a happy ending too. It’d be cool if we were a real family.”

 

“That’s not the impression I heard,” Archie contradicted him gently. “Your mother seems to think you don’t want her and Emma to be together. You know that when you lie to people it hurts them, don’t you?”

 

“Yeah. But what if telling the truth ends up hurting them even more?”

 

“Yes, sometimes the truth can be painful. But you owe it to your parents to be honest with them about your feelings. I’m sure they would listen.”

 

Henry’s next question seemed out of the blue. “Do you think they’ll get married?”

 

“Maybe. How would you feel about it if they did? Sometimes grownups don’t get married after they get together. I know the stories in your book often end with someone dying or someone getting married and that can seem like a finality. Even though we now know that those stories actually happened it doesn’t mean that’s all there is. Sometimes you have to see past the edge of the pages. Life goes on for everyone after the story ends.”

 

“So if they got married it wouldn’t have to mean that they’ll stay together?”

 

Archie thought he was finally getting somewhere with the boy. Even though his mothers had only just begun having a relationship, Henry seemed to think it was doomed from the start. For some reason he expected them to break up one day. 

 

“It’s true that our parents don’t always stay together forever but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it at the time. Why do you think your parents will break up?”

 

“She’s going to hurt her,” Henry muttered.

 

Archie nodded to himself. “Henry, she’s made many mistakes but I believe your mother really has changed for the better. She’s trying hard to put her past behind her and she needs our support to do so. I think you know that.”

 

“Not Mom. Emma,” said Henry crossly. 

 

Archie tried not to let his surprise show. “You think Emma is going to hurt Regina?”

 

“I have to protect my Mom, especially if no-one else will,” Henry insisted and that was his only answer. 

 

Archie tried to get Henry to talk more about what was bothering him or at least reveal why he thought Regina was in danger. As much as the psychiatrist continued his efforts in drawing the boy out, that was all he would say.

 

________________________________________

 

“Ok, since you’re new to this dating thing, this is the part of the date where we get to know each other better and ask about interests and hopes and dreams and stuff. But we already know each other pretty well so I got a better idea. Truth or Dare?”

 

Regina gave her an unimpressed look. “Emma, I’m fairly certain we’re too old for that. Perhaps you’re confusing me for Ri.”

 

“As if you’ve ever played. Come on, I’m trying to make up for lost time here. Truth or Dare.”

 

“Fine. Dare.”

 

Emma shook her head at the predictable answer. “Doesn’t count. You can’t choose Dare because everyone has to choose Truth on the first round.”

 

“Then why did you ask!” said Regina exasperatedly. 

 

“Choose Truth already so I can ask something really revealing and/or embarrassing.”

 

“This game is inane.”

 

“I think I just heard Truth. Don’t bother lying because I’ll know. Ok. When did you...” Emma bit back a grin. “...first look at me and think ‘I want to give that girl the best orgasm of her life’?”

 

“It’ll be your last if you keep this up. Lower your voice.”

 

“Answer the question.”

 

“Never.”

 

“Normally the penalty for refusing to answer truthfully is Dare, but the last thing I’m going to do is give you your own way. So I’ll downgrade the question. When did you first want to kiss me?”

 

Regina let out a smile before she could stop it. “I am not going to tell you that either. When did you first want to kiss me?”

 

Emma whined. “You are such a cheater! You can’t refuse to answer and you can’t ask a question that’s already been asked.”

 

“You are making these rules up.”

 

“Nope. Get out your phone and google ‘official Truth or Dare rules’ if you don’t believe me. Ok I got a better idea.” 

 

“‘Better’? Are you sure you don’t mean terrible or ill-advised? I think you got your sense of a good idea from your mother.”

 

Emma grabbed two paper napkins from the dispenser on the table and two textas from the kids’ colouring caddy and offered one of each to Regina. 

 

“Here. We’ll each write down the answer in secret and then we’ll swap and see who was the lightweight who fell in love first.”

 

“And if I refuse?”

 

“Then I dare you to give Mary Margaret a compliment. A nice sincere one. In my hearing distance. Before the end of the day. No sarcasm allowed.”

 

Regina snatched the napkin and pen from her in defeat. She paused and thought for a minute, pen hovering above the paper, before jotting something down in her precise fluid script.

 

Emma gave her a fake suspicious look and then wrote down her own answer, shielding her napkin from view with her forearm like she was in a classroom warding off cheaters from copying her exam.

 

“Done!” Emma declared. She leaned over the table between them to steal a kiss but Regina only let her peck her lips knowing what she was up to. Regina slipped the napkin out of sight in case Emma made a grab for it.

 

“Nice try, dear.”

 

“Well isn’t this interesting.” Mr Gold was standing next to their booth with both his hands resting on his cane before him. His presence dampened the atmosphere considerably.

 

“You always were one for a tragic romance, Regina, but a love triangle with the Saviour? What would your dearly departed mother say. Something amusing no doubt.” 

 

“We’ll never know. As she’s dead,” said Regina, glaring at the interruption. “You killed her to save yourself. Rather cowardly act wouldn’t you agree?”

 

Gold pretended to ponder it. “Not really. Self-preservation is nature’s first instinct. I did what I had to. But I didn’t kill your mother. Why would I bother when Mary Margaret proved such a willing accomplice? Again.” 

 

“Gold,” warned Emma.

 

“Ah.” Mr Gold chuckled to himself and waved his hand from one woman to the other. “So this is your new strategy, Regina. Get to the Charmings via their daughter. It’s spared your life so far. I bet they’re not even suspicious yet. Will you one day slit their throats while they sleep? Perhaps you won’t spare young Henry’s life this time.”

 

“I would never hurt my son!” said Regina angrily. “I’m not your monster anymore. You can’t even admit that you’re still trying to ruin my life. Why don’t you ever take credit for what you did to me?” 

 

Gold shook his head at her. “Your actions were your own, dearie.”

 

“No. I wasn’t born evil. You made me what I’ve become. Everyone has seen my younger self now, they know I wasn’t always this way. They know how you used me.”

 

“Yes, I’m sure they have seen how easy you are to manipulate. Young Regina is a darling little thing. But if you act like prey the predators will come.”

 

“Keep talking, Gold,” said Emma fiercely. “I still owe you a punch in the face.”

 

“A convincing job she’s done on you I see, Miss Swan. Don’t be fooled. Her Majesty is an accomplished actress. Do you really believe she’s in love with you?”

 

Emma raised her shoulders in a casual shrug, fully aware of the wedge he was trying to drive between them. “Yep. She says so.”

 

“Sometimes I scream it,” said Regina with a snarl.

 

“Yeah, she’s definitely not faking. Speaking of which, let’s go, Regina. Dessert’s waiting at home.”

 

“Are you going to your mother’s apartment?” asked Gold.

 

“Why.” Emma frowned. “What’s it to you?”

 

“By now Mary Margaret Blanchard will have received a notice to remove herself and her possessions from my property by 10am tomorrow morning.”

 

“You’re evicting her!” Emma exclaimed in shock. 

 

“Why?” Regina demanded.

 

Mr Gold held out his hand and produced a tenancy agreement from thin air accompanied by a puff of purple smoke. “The conditions of the lease Miss Blanchard signed clearly stipulate that the apartment will be occupied by one adult and no children. I believe the extended Charming family now numbers four adults and three children. There is a ‘no children’ clause in the lease.”

 

“Big deal,” said Emma. “You can change the lease. Come on, Henry’s a good kid. As for the teenagers, Ri is already of age and Em’s nearly eighteen anyway.”

 

“Ah yes, the lovely young lady who wilfully damaged my shop. If she’s not already a felon she soon will be. You can see why I’m hesitant to allow such undesirable tenants to remain.”

 

“Don’t do this,” said Emma, trying to appeal to whatever good side he had. “Henry’s your grandkid. Isn’t family supposed to stick together?” 

 

“Whatever Henry’s connection to me truly is, she,” Gold pointed at Regina but kept his eyes trained on Emma. “is not my family. Do you think I give a damn about my-son’s-bastard-child’s-mother’s new love interest? I promised Belle I wouldn’t kill her but that is as far as my benevolence extends. Because of her, Belle doesn’t even remember it so what motivation do I have for upholding my promise? I think Lacey might prefer my bad side actually. Your girlfriend is in danger until I get mine back.”

 

“Belle’s memories are gone, Gold,” said Regina. “That identity no longer exists. Except in the sense that she’ll live on in your shrivelled mess of a heart.”

 

“I hope you don’t mean the way Daniel lives on in yours? She is not dead.”

 

“Gold,” said Emma, far more compassionately. “Is there any way that we can get the lost memories back? For Belle and anyone else.”

 

“If I knew of a way don’t you think I would’ve set a plan in motion by now?”

 

“But Henry says there is always a way...”

 

Gold almost smiled. “Maybe, but I wouldn’t wait around for the Blue Fairy to pull a potion out of her arse.”

 

“Ok whatever!” said Emma. “I’m sorry you lost someone you love. But you can’t punish the whole town for what happened.”

 

“Like the Evil Queen did you mean? Of course I can. Perhaps Regina will come up with a creative solution to this latest Mary Margaret problem as well.”

 

“But my Mom signed that stupid lease when she was under the influence of the curse. It shouldn’t count.”

 

“You have no legal grounds for an eviction,” said Regina. “Not without notice at least. Your reasons are trivial.”

 

Gold tittered gleefully. “Oh by all means let’s get the law involved and draw attention to the quaint little town of Storybrooke. I’m sure the outside world would love to scientifically examine the magical evil sorceress and her teenage clone. Is Gregor Mendel still in town? I wonder what he’d have to say about the genetic abnormalities here.”

 

Emma was really losing patience with his double-talk. “What the hell is this really about, Gold. Are you actually worried about the place getting wrecked or do you just want us out. If me and the kids move out will you let my parents stay? Why would you want the apartment vacant? There’ll be no-one paying the rent.”

 

“I may have an interested tenant.”

 

“Who?” asked Regina. “You know as well as I do that the curse provided everybody here with a living situation.”

 

“My son and his fiance.”

 

“Neal and what’s-her-face are moving here?” Emma laughed. “Yeah right.”

 

“Is this the son who refuses to talk to you?” said Regina. “I’m sure he’ll do exactly what you say. Nice parenting, Gold.”

 

“This from the woman whose son ran away to Boston to find his real mother,” countered Gold.

 

“Your son jumped a portal to another world to get away from you.”

 

“I will get him back!” Gold raised his voice menacingly, attracting the attention of the rest of the diner for his outburst. 

 

“Good luck with that,” said Regina, delighting in finally making him lose his temper. “Seeing as how we’re all trapped here. In a place that’s getting smaller day by day. Soon you might not even remember that you had a son.”

 

“Whatever do you mean by that?” said Gold evenly, with raised suspicions. 

 

“Nothing,” said Emma quickly. 

 

Regina crinkled her nose in distaste. “By the way, Gold, you stink. Why are you wearing that piece of old sheepskin. Does it remind you of home?”

 

“I suggest you be careful, Regina. It’d be a shame if you lost another True Love. The first loss is a tragedy, the second is simply carelessness.”

 

“I won’t need your help for what I’ll do if that happens. Don’t threaten my family.”

 

“Alright, enough!” Emma jumped in before they could argue further. She was completely fed up with both of them. Rumpelstiltzskin and the Evil Queen were bad enough separately, let alone together and poking the hell out of each other’s sore spots. She held up her hands in surrender but they both regarded her as a mere amusement.

 

“We’re leaving. If you two are done comparing the size of your magic wands that is.” She grabbed Regina’s hand and pulled her to her feet before heading out.

 

________________________________________

 

Regina leaned against the Sheriff’s police cruiser waiting for Emma to get off the phone. They were parked outside the diner in Main street, which was deserted and lit only by streetlights at this time of night. She drew her coat around her to ward off the chilly night air. Emma must be too fired up to be feeling the cold, she thought.

 

“Neal, what the hell!” Emma sniped into the phone. “What do you mean ‘what time is it where I am’. I’m in Storybrooke of course, where are you... What? Since when.... Does Henry know?”

 

Emma clenched her free hand into a fist. “You mean you didn’t tell him, you just left without saying goodbye? You didn’t tell your father either? Nice.”

 

“Neal, I know you’re angry at Gold but you can’t just do that to a kid. You can’t get his hopes up that you’re going to be involved in his life and then leave. He’s had a tough year as it is...”

 

Regina listened to the rest of the one-sided conversation until Emma finished berating her ex and ended the call. Emma stuffed her phone into the back pocket of her jeans and started to pace. Regina could see how agitated she was, her mouth was set in a grim line and she crossed her arms tensely as she paced back and forth. After growing up with her own parental abandonment issues the last thing Emma would want is for her son to go through the same thing and her protective instinct was definitely flaring.

 

“Emma, calm down before you set something on fire.”

 

“I am calm!” Emma growled.

 

Regina arched an eyebrow as if to say ‘oh really?’. “What was that all about?”

 

“Something about wedding preparations and having to go back to work. He’s a stockbroker, how boring and ridiculous is that? I can’t believe anyone would trust a conman like Neal with their money. Guess he learned plenty about making deals from his father. He said he went back to New York with Tamara last Saturday.”

 

“And his leaving upsets you?”

 

Emma gave her a significant look. “Only because of Henry, not me.”

 

“He didn’t see Henry before he left?”

 

Emma shook her head and then realisation overtook her face. “Hey, Mary Margaret said Henry went for a bike ride to the shops on Saturday and came back sad. I bet he found out that Neal left. Maybe he saw them checking out of the B&B.”

 

Regina frowned. “I wonder if Mr Gold knows. Why would he think his son is moving here if he’s gone back to New York to get married?”

 

“He’s probably denying it to himself. His master plan to come to this world and find his long-lost son involved some fucked up shit, but it must be killing him to realise it was all for nothing. Neal doesn’t want anything to do with him. And now that Belle’s lost her memories he’s got no-one. I feel kinda sorry for the evil bastard. No wonder Gold was pissed at us. But he is family, no matter what he says.” 

 

Regina smiled to herself, both surprised and yet completely unsurprised to hear it. “You’re very like her sometimes. You have her compassion.” 

 

“Maybe we should keep an eye on him. Do you think he suspects anything about the border? He’s wearing that scarf of Neal’s. The same one he wore to keep his memories intact when we went to New York.”

 

“We’ll tip our hand if we ask him what he knows, which is probably more than he’d tell us anyway.”

 

Emma resumed ranting. “What’d he mean by that love triangle thing huh? Does he think I’m gonna chase them back to New York to fight over Neal or something?”

 

“If you are, I’d appreciate some notice. I want my shirt back.”

 

Emma exhaled and smiled. She held out her arms. “Cm’ere. I’m not going anywhere but home with you.”

 

Regina evaded the hug and walked Emma backwards until her back was against the car door and she pressed herself flush against her. She kicked Emma’s feet apart and stood between them, relishing her height advantage due to her heels. Emma’s arms settled around her lower back.

 

“I believe you owe me something,” said Regina softly. 

 

Emma pretended not to know what she was referring to. “I’m not sure what you mean. I checked my account this morning, I have no unpaid debts.”

 

“I heard that a kiss traditionally follows the first date.”

 

Emma laughed. “Yeah, we’re so traditional.”

 

“Well, you never know. It could be True Love’s kiss.”

 

“That reminds me. The first time I wanted to kiss you was...” hinted Emma, before pulling out the crumpled up napkin out of her jacket pocket. 

 

Regina produced hers as well, neatly folded in half, from her purse. They traded answers and neither could contain their smiles at what the other had written.

 

… WHEN YOU GAVE ME THE APPLE. I WANTED TO TASTE YOUR FRUIT.

 

… After you dared to vandalised my tree. I didn’t know whether I wanted to kill you or kiss you. I nearly did.

 

Emma tucked a lock of hair behind Regina’s ear and brought their mouths together. They were both seeking the connection after their respective days apart and the kiss quickly grew passionate. 

 

A loud crack split the air and a bright shower of sparks fell from the nearest streetlight as the globe blew. It was so close it made both them jump in fright at the sudden noise.

 

“Calm down, Emma,” chided Regina.

 

“Me?! Maybe it was you.”

 

“You are determined to destroy the town I worked so hard to create aren’t you.”

 

Emma sputtered. “What? Are you talking about the historic sign thing? That was an accident. So was this. If I even did it.”

 

“Regardless, I expect you to write yourself up. Just because you are Sheriff doesn’t mean you are above the law.”

 

“Sure, I’ll get right on that, Madam Mayor. You really are irritating sometimes. You are so paying for that as soon as we get home. You know what, I’ve already decided what I’m going to do to you and your delicious fruit...”

 

________________________________________

 

Archie heard the knock on the door to his apartment, which was above the office he operated his psychiatry practice from. He glanced at Henry who was half-asleep lying on the couch watching TV. The screen showed the Road Runner outpacing Wiley E Coyote in their perpetual battle for speed.

 

“That’s probably your mother coming to collect you,” said Archie. He got up to open the door.

 

“Hey Archie,” said Emma, with Regina right behind her. “Thanks for minding Henry.”

 

“We apologise for the lateness of the hour,” said Regina, even though it was barely 8:30.

 

Archie ushered them in. “Not at all. I know it’s a school night but we’ve been watching some cartoons.”

 

“Looney Tunes, is that allowed?” said Emma, looking at the screen. “Thought you guys were Disney.”

 

“Keep going and I’ll drop an anvil on you,” said Regina.

 

Emma went over to where Henry was lying on the couch and tousled his hair. “Hey, kid. You awake?”

 

“Emma? You’re still here,” Henry mumbled sleepily.

 

“Yeah, of course I am. Can’t get rid of me that easily. Ready to go home?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Are you awake enough to walk yourself, kid? Or am I gonna have to carry you like that time I had to save your Mom from the fire.”

 

Regina sent her a Look. “You didn’t carry me. I walked out on my own.”

 

“As if!” said Emma in disbelief. “I had to carry you through the flaming debris.”

 

“I think I’d remember that, Miss Swan.”

 

Emma chuckled at the formality. “Oh right. Now I see how it is. You just don’t wanna admit that you were the damsel in distress and I had to save you. I carried you out of a burning building, Regina. In my arms.”

 

“No you did not,” insisted Regina. “You let me hobble out on a twisted ankle while you flirted with the firemen, bragging about the rescue. My hero. Forgive me for not swooning.”

 

Emma’s jaw dropped comically. “What?” she shrieked. “I did not-- You are so making that up!”

 

“And you left my purse behind. It was Chanel.”

 

Archie coughed discreetly to cover his amusement and even Henry giggled behind his hands, looking from one of his mothers to the other as they bickered over the rescue. 

 

“Oh not you too kid,” Emma groused. “You’re supposed to be on my side. Come on, Millses, it’s getting late and we better get out of Archie’s hair before you two start denying something else I did. Like fight the dragon. An argument with Regina could go on forever.”

 

Emma dropped to a squat in front of the couch so that Henry could climb onto her back for a piggy-back lift.

 

“Oof!” Emma groaned as she staggered upright with the boy’s added weight. “Kid, you’re getting heavy now that you’re eleven. What have you stuffed your pockets with - rocks? Ack! Can’t breathe -”

 

“Lift with your legs, Emma,” said Regina. “Henry, sweetie, stop choking her neck. We might need her one of these days.”

 

“Yeah, Emma, don’t leave,” Henry mumbled into her neck. “We need you. Your family needs you.”

 

________________________________________  
The park

 

“How does your lip feel today, Ri?” said Em.

 

Ri smiled. “Better. Not so sore anymore.”

 

“Good, I’m glad you’re ok.”

 

The girls were walking hand-in-hand. It’d been Ri’s idea to go for what she called a romantic late-night stroll in the moonlight. It was dark and cold so they were both bundled up in coats. In the soft glow of the streetlights their breaths clouded visibly in front of them. Even if anybody else was around they wouldn’t have noticed - the girls only had eyes for each other. 

 

“Are you asking because you’re angling for a kiss?” teased Ri. 

 

“Not exactly. Just checking.”

 

“You can kiss me everywhere else if you’d like?”

 

“Oh, one day I will certainly take you up on that. You’re such a tease!”

 

“Me?!”

 

“Yes you! You’re so cute, how am I supposed to resist?”

 

“You’re not, that’s the point.”

 

Their older selves and Emma’s parents had both gone out for the night, leaving the teenagers at home alone. Unfortunately they hadn’t been able to take full advantage of it. Em was fighting the temptation to get things going on a more physical level, which was especially hard since Ri kept touching her or pressing up against her or giving her flirty looks. She seemed keen but Em was still concerned about whether she was really ready to go further. The last thing she wanted to do was to make her feel scared or pressured. With Ri’s injured lip though, the timing wasn’t right. 

 

“So um, I was thinking...” started Em.

 

“I hope I like where this is going.”

 

“Maybe, I dunno,” said Em nervously. “You know how when we were at the stables... after we went riding… after we had the picnic. We uh, kissed a lot -”

 

“We did more than just kissing.”

 

“-yeah. You were ok with that weren’t you? I mean, would you want to -”

 

“Yes,” Ri said quickly.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes, of course!” Ri sighed. “I’ve been trying to give you hints, Em. You know I don’t know much about sex but I suspect there’s much more to it than what we’ve done. I wish I could tell you how good it makes me feel to be alone with you like that. The way you touch me… you make me feel so many things.”

 

“Oh,” Em’s voice squeaked. She let out the breath she’d been holding. “That’s - wow.”

 

Ri stopped and stepped in front of Em with a coy smile. She hooked her fingers in the beltloops of Em’s jeans and brought their bodies close together.

 

“Did I make you speechless?” Ri whispered close to her lips. 

 

“Yeah,” Em breathed. “You do.”

 

“Kiss me, please.”

 

“But-”

 

“It’s ok. Be gentle.”

 

“It feels like such a long time since I last kissed you,” Em murmured.

 

Em pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Ri’s mouth. Her scar must’ve really been ok because Ri smiled and kissed her back with little sips and pecks. She felt Ri push her hands up under her shirt to run over her back. Em wrapped her arms around her too and laid her head in the crook of Ri’s neck. They could both feel the comfort and warmth and closeness of being with each other. 

 

“Love you.”

 

“I love you too, my darling girl.”


	38. Busy

_Sheriff's station_

Hiding in her office wasn't a fabulous solution to her problems but it would do for now.

Emma dropped the keys to the Sheriff's cruiser on her desk and plopped down into her chair with a sigh of relief. She sipped her takeaway coffee, grateful for the warmth spreading through her but it didn't do much for calming her. Already that morning she'd been called out to Kidspace to sort out a fight between a pair of youths and then she'd had to provide security to the courthouse at Town Hall for a hearing, which of course was where she'd run into "the Mayor" and  _that_  hadn't gone well.

She was now in the proverbial doghouse indefinitely.

Emma let her forehead rest on her fists, elbows on her desk forming an inverted V. Why was Regina annoyed at her all of a sudden? Actually to be fair, it'd been building up over a few days. Ever since Gold turned up with his threat of eviction during their first date. He always knew how to wreck things that were going well.

The morning after their first date, Emma and Regina got up early in order to get Henry off to school before they went over to the apartment to collect the girls. Emma called her mother the night before to give her the head's up but Mary Margaret and David already knew about Gold's eviction notice and were surprisingly calm about it.

_Mary Margaret's voice was soothing over the phone. "Emma honey, it'll be ok. It's not a disaster. You and Henry and the girls can stay with Regina until we sort this out. The kids are okay with it, they're packing their things now. In fact, Em's response to this whole problem was 'Duh, it's obvious. Regina has a mansion' and now Ri thinks they're going to go live in a castle. Tell Regina thanks for the offer, it was getting too crowded here anyway."_

_Emma shot a look at the woman next to her in bed. "You knew?" she mouthed._

_"I messaged your mother while you were driving," said Regina._

_Emma resumed her phone conversation. "But what about you, Mary Margaret? I don't care if I am the Sheriff, I'm not going to serve you eviction papers and force you out of your home. Gold's gonna turn up tomorrow with his thugs and throw all your stuff out into the street!"_

_Mary Margaret chuckled over the phone and her response was blase. "No no, I don't think it'll come to that."_

The schoolteacher was right. It hadn't. Nothing had happened in fact. Gold and whatever thugs he had in his employ hadn't even turned up despite all his threats and blustering the night before. Apparently he'd changed his mind about enforcing the terms of the lease now that his prospective tenant had left town and the strict 'no children' policy was no longer being violated.

 _So what the hell was the point of the eviction threat?!_  Emma could hardly believe that Gold had a reason for playing matchmaker between her and Regina.

Henry was fine with moving back home since Emma and the girls were coming too. At first, Em had grumbled at having to move but she'd packed her few shirts, spare jeans, PJs, and aviator sunnies into a plastic garbage bag in the space of about five minutes and was the first one ready at the door to leave like she'd been doing this all her life - which she had. The teen cheered up at the prospect of having her own room for the first time in her life though. Her enthusiasm for having her own bed caused Ri to fret until Em whispered to her and explained what a 'sleep over' was and then she was fine with it too.

Emma was the only one still struggling to fit in it seemed. She and Regina had been living in each other's pockets for weeks, they were having sex at every opportunity, they were sleeping in the same bed and spending a lot of time together both alone and with Henry… but it wasn't the same as actually  _living together_. Emma tried - she really  _tried_  - to be on her best behaviour and stay out of Regina's way and not make a mess or be an annoying house guest in any way… but every single thing she did and said just seemed to annoy Regina more.

This was exactly what she'd been afraid of. Living together was a strain on any relationship, especially a new one between two people who'd rarely shared their lives with anyone. It was usually a mistake to move in together too early. Ruby had been the first one to make a U-Haul joke (which only Emma got) but it was irritatingly accurate. They hadn't even made it to their second date yet and they were already fighting over dumb stuff.

A knock on the office door jerked the Sheriff out of her misery. It was her deputy.

"Hey, David. What's up?"

"Leroy called to report about the border."

_Oh shit. I forgot about that._

"The dwarves have been keeping an eye on it. It's still moving but not fast. Doesn't look like anyone's gone near it either."

"Good," said Emma with a sigh of relief, but at the same time she knew that she couldn't keep putting off dealing with this border crisis forever. Everyone was waiting on her to figure something out or come up with a plan… but all she'd done so far was put it in the 'too hard' basket with everything else.

"It's a bit slow here today," said David. "I was thinking I could help you with moving your stuff over to Regina's later?"

"Can't it just stay where it is?" Emma snapped. "What difference does it make."

"Er okay. Emma, is something wrong?"

"Look, I already had this argument with Regina. Why does everyone suddenly care where I keep my stuff? It's not hurting anyone where it is so why do I have to move it? I can fit the whole lot in my car if taking up too much space is such a big deal."

David came in closer by Emma's side. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and shook her gently so that she'd look up at him. "Hey, your mother and I love having you with us. You're welcome at home as long as you want. No one's forcing you to move."

Emma sighed impatiently and stuffed her fists into her eyes. " _Yes_. They are. It makes sense for me to move in with Regina. I'm over there all the time anyway. It's good for Henry. I can't live with my parents forever. What's wrong with me? It's supposed to feel good when you move in together isn't it? I don't know what I'm doing. I'm screwing this up already."

"I think you're being too hard on yourself. Give it some time. Since when has anything between you and Regina ever been easy?" David said, trying to get a smile out of her.

"I think I picked a fight with her. I wasn't trying to, I swear."

"What happened?"

Emma rolled her eyes and fiddled with her coffee cup. "She moved my keys! I couldn't find them." She rushed on to explain, hearing how lame it sounded out loud. "She put them with hers on the sidetable at the front door. But I was keeping them on the nightstand with my phone and my badge so I knew where they were in case I had to leave at a moment's notice. So we argued about that. Then she asked me when I was going to bring the rest of my stuff over and I said I wasn't going to. She actually seemed pissed that I wasn't leaving my things around. Then I ran into her at Town Hall this morning and I asked her what time she'd be home tonight and she said:

(Emma imitated a bitchy version of Regina's voice)  _I wasn't aware that I had to inform you of my schedule every minute of the day. I'll be home late, will_ _you_ _be there by any chance?_

"And she called me 'Sheriff Swan' as if we're strangers, like I haven't seen every inch of her naked body."

David cleared his throat. "Do you think maybe you're overreacting a little? It takes a while for a new place to really feel like home. I know you moved around a lot when you were a kid-"

"Don't say it like that." Emma frowned crossly. "I didn't  _choose_  to move around, I got kicked out and shuttled around by other people because I was the brat nobody could deal with. I hate having to move, but nowhere feels like home to me so I guess it doesn't really matter where I am, I always feel homeless. The thing is, when you live in other people's homes stuff gets lost or 'goes missing', which is code for 'the other kids stole it'. They used to break my glasses all the time. Do you have any idea how long it takes for a kid in the foster system to be provided with new prescription glasses? I started sucking at school and eventually I just stopped going. Nobody cared."

"Emma, I-," David shook his head.

Emma softened her tone. "I'm not saying this to get you to apologise or to make you feel guilty. I just want you to know who I am, what my life was like. One of the foster moms took my baby blanket away and threatened to burn it, the only thing I've ever had that was special and mine. I got it back though. I tracked that bitch down after I got out of juvie and threatened to burn down her garden shed."

David smiled, trying to hide his amusement. It was easy to imagine Em doing something like that.

"It's not supposed to be a funny story," Emma said stubbornly. "I did some bad stuff. I'm not some pretty little well-behaved orphan just waiting for a good home."

"I know." David said simply. "But I also think that part of the reason why you tell me these things is because you're testing me for my reaction. Do you think that if you show me the worst parts of yourself that I'll stop loving you? Because there's nothing that you could possibly tell me for that to happen. I get that suddenly having a family in your life isn't easy for you to deal with. Do you think maybe you could be taking it out on Regina as well?"

Emma sighed. "I don't know. Probably."

"If you don't want to move in with her yet you need to tell her. If you go along with it it's only going to cause problems between you. Regina's a big girl, I'm sure she'll understand."

"Regina never gets over anything. She's the champion of the universe at holding a grudge. She's still pissed about that time the postman put her mail in next door's mailbox by mistake. She tried to get the guy fired. Or killed. I forget which."

David chastised her with a stern look.

"Alright alright. Don't give me the Dad look. Hey, did you get the memo from-" Emma cut herself off abruptly and all the colour drained out of her face when she saw her.

Regina was standing in the doorway with a large pile of files in her arms and an arctic glare on her face.

_Oh god, how long had she been standing there?_

Emma croaked. "Regina. I'm-"

"Save it. I need you to go through and correct these reports, Sheriff. They're not good enough."

"All of them?" shrieked Emma.

"Yes, and you will have them done by tomorrow."

Regina dropped the files onto Emma's desk from shoulder height. A loud thud reverberated in the office as the weight crashed down. The whole pile of manila folders slid off the desk and crashed to the floor, scattering their loose contents everywhere.

Emma stared morosely at the mess as she listened to the sound of Regina leaving, heels clicking severely down the hall until she was gone.

 _Shit shit shit._   _Tomorrow?_ her brain whined at her. Emma dropped her forehead to the desk with a thud.  _Dammit Regina, what the hell do you want from me!_

_I'm trying._

* * *

_Town Hall_

Regina pressed 'refuse call' on her phone for the third time and then set it to Silent mode. After the trip to the Sheriff's station she'd returned to her office where a huge backlog of work awaited and she was impatient to get started. For lack of a better way to occupy the teenagers during the day she'd brought them to work with her under the guise of being her "interns" even though she didn't really have the time to supervise them doing busywork.

"I like how you've decorated your throne room, Regina," said Ri. "It's beautiful. This is exactly what I would've chosen for myself."

"What an amazing coincidence," said Em, smiling fondly at the other girl as she looked around the Mayor's office.

"Oh and I do love that horse statue. It reminds me of Rocinante."

Regina sat the girls at the conference table and assigned them a stack of paperwork each, instructing them to sort them by topic and how urgent they were. Predictably, Ri took to her task with pleasure and a serious work ethic. Today she'd even asked to borrow one of Regina's skirt suits so that she could look the part as well. As usual Em was keen enough on anything that made Ri happy.

The Mayor went back to her laptop to finish drafting letters to the Small Business Owners of Storybrooke. Every piece of correspondence she'd answered lately had started off with an apology for lack of action on the issue because of the recent high turnover rate of Acting Mayors. To admit such incompetence was aggravating to someone who took pride in running a tight ship.

The town was slipping out of her control.

When the hell was she supposed to find time to organise an election and campaign on top of all this? Doing the job was becoming a real threat to her chance of winning it back. Campaigning was going to be a farce. As if her plans for improving Storybrooke were going to matter when stacked up against the fact that everyone now knew she was the Evil Queen.

Work had been stressful all week. Not to mention her home life had taken a sudden turn for the worse, which cast a layer of anxiety over everything else. First it was Henry and now Emma was acting up...

 _"Maybe, Madam Mayor, you should take a good hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why that is. Why is everyone running away from you?"_ She remembered Emma saying it once last year, accusing her of being such a bitch that it drove everyone in her life away from her. Was that still true? She was good at bringing others misery. She was woefully out of practice at being happy or making anyone else happy. Maybe she'd forgotten how.

_Maybe it is my fault. Maybe she doesn't want what I want. No, I do know she loves me. I have to trust that. But is it enough if she can't stand to live around me? Why is Emma being so-_

Regina's attention was pulled away when she noticed Em hovering in front of her desk.

"Em, you don't have to do the papers if you're bored. I think Henry left his handheld game system here if you want to play?"

"No, it's ok. I want to help you but uh, I don't know how to do this. You know I'm not smart, I dropped out of school." Em blushed bright red. "Sorry. I bet you're really busy huh."

Regina smiled at the teen and gestured her to bring around the guest chair next to hers. "Why don't we do the first few together and I'll show you?"

After a few tries at explaining it, Regina could see Em getting frustrated. It reminded her of Henry when she'd first attempted to teach him fractions when he was six. Assigning the first-grade teaching job to Mother Goose hadn't been one of her better decisions when casting the curse but at the time she hadn't known that she'd end up having to put a child through school.

"I don't get it," moaned Em. "I'm doing it wrong. It'll be faster if Ri does them all."

"You're doing fine. Try this: go through these documents and find any with the words 'education' 'school' or 'curriculum reform' and then find the most recent dates for me."

"Ok, finding stuff is something I can do." Em brightened up. "Although you could sweeten this deal by paying me a dollar per word?"

"Consider this a down payment." Regina placed a chaste kiss on Em's cheek causing the teen smile with embarrassment again.

"Anything for you, my Queen! For you I would scour the countryside and search every nook and cranny, I'd cross rivers, climb really tall things, and swordfight dragons and um… yeah, basically I'd do dangerous stuff to impress you."

"There'll be no need of that. Get to work."

The two of them worked in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"Is Emma still acting cranky?" asked Em quietly. "I heard you guys arguing this morning."

Regina looked up from her work but didn't answer.

"That's a yes then," Em sighed. "Please don't be too upset. Are you? It's not you. She's just shitty about having to move again. It reminds her of getting kicked out all the time. But it's not just that. You're you and she's kind of a loser in comparison. You've got a mansion to bring to the deal and Emma's got a cardboard box. You know?"

"I really don't care about that. I've had riches long enough to know that my life has been impoverished of what's truly important. I care about Emma's happiness. I don't want to force her to do anything she doesn't want. If that's even possible."

Em grinned. "Yeah, it's not. She does want to be with you, she just doesn't want to piss you off so much that you won't want her there anymore. She's only afraid because she wants it so badly. Otherwise she wouldn't care, she'd just leave when it got too hard. It's still always going to be  _your_  house and for a while it's going to feel like you could kick her out anytime. She's waiting to see if you'll do it."

"What can I do to convince her I want her to stay?" asked Regina, with some vulnerability.

"Get mad at her."

Regina gave the teen a skeptical look.

"No, really! She's trying too hard to not be herself and trust me, that won't work for long. If you let her see that you can still get angry over all the same shit without kicking her out, then she'll know it's ok and nothing's really changed between you two."

"Let me see if I understand. Your solution to our fighting is for us to fight more?"

"Totally. You're kinda fighting a cold war at the moment, you need to fight a hot war instead. Get mad and yell at each other. At least you'll get makeup sex."

"What would you know about that." Regina narrowed her eyes sternly.

Em winked. "Nothing unfortunately, but a girl can dream."

"We've been busy the last day or so."

"Ha. Too busy to get busy? Or is it that you've got too many kids in the house now? Sorry about that, I'll run some interference for you. Henry sleeps like he's dead to the world but Ri heard you guys the first night. I told her it was a ghost moaning in the attic and she bought it… for about five minutes. She's a smart cookie that girl. It sounded like you guys were having fun."

Regina couldn't help but smile despite her mood. The extremely vivid memory of what she'd done to Emma that first night at home to make her moan so loudly brought a colour to her cheeks. She hadn't really known what she was doing either, other than to go by Emma's reactions and feedback - but Emma must've enjoyed it because her response was  _very_  vocal obviously. Now that she was a live-in parent she was going to have to learn to keep the volume down, Regina thought wryly.

Em always had a way of charming her, but the sexual innuendo reminded her more of the adult version right now than the teenager. It made her realise how much she'd missed Emma being _Emma_  recently. The way Regina was feeling right now, if Emma showed even a hint that things were ok between them when she got home tonight she'd likely pounce on her.

Em leaned in closer and whispered. "Hey Regina. Emma satisfies you doesn't she? You know, in bed? Can you tell me what you like so I know for when me and Ri get there…?"

"You're not planning to-"

"I just wanna know," Em implored. "Please, I want to know how to make it really good for you."

"Em," Regina laughed and shook her head. She lowered her voice. "I think you've gotten the idea that I'm some kind of-"

"Sex goddess."

"Something like that." Regina said wryly, and then gave Em a quick overview of her  _actual_ sexual history, leaving out the more sordid details. "... but it's different with Emma and I. She takes such care with me."

Em nodded knowingly and then resumed her pestering. "Ok, now can you give me a hint? Are you a top or a bottom? Or maybe you have a thing like 'I fuck you, you don't fuck me'? Is that really true that it's one or the other or do you guys like to switch it up …and hey, do you think it's better with a girl than with a guy? I've kissed both. But I love the way that girls are so soft and I just want to run my hands all over her curves and oh Ri has the most gorgeous eyes. Every time she gives me that look my stomach does a flip-flop and when she touches me I feel it everywhere. Please, come on, tell me something you like. Anything. Position, technique, whatever…?"

Suspecting that putting the insistent teen off her line of questioning would get her nowhere, Regina decided to give in with a little hint. She wrapped her hand around Em's long blonde ponytail, twirling it around, and leant in close to whisper something in the young girl's ear.

"Well,  _hey_ , Madam Mayor," drawled a familiar sarcastic voice. "How're you doing. Busy?"


	39. Game over

Regina closed her eyes for a second and then looked up to see her pissed off girlfriend standing in front of her desk. Emma was leaning into one hip and had her arms folded defiantly staring her down. She most definitely had not been visible a second before.  _Emma and her damn magic!_  How long had she been standing there? She must've exploited her powers to get past Regina's assistant and slipped into her office without being seen.

"Sheriff Swan. I don't believe you have an appointment."

"Since when do I need one to talk to you," said Emma.

Sensing the tension, Em jumped up and on her way out she collected Ri, who had just returned from inspecting her newly-pink lip scar in the Mayor's private ensuite bathroom.

"Come on, Ri," said Em. "Let's grab lunch from the diner and go to the park."

"Em, I haven't finished what I was- " (Ri squeaked when Em poked her waist and hissed "Alone time.") "-OH! Yes, let's. That sounds lovely."

Once they were alone, Regina turned her attention back to her laptop and started typing again since Emma seemingly wasn't going to speak and let her in on why she was there.

"What the fuck was that, Regina?"

"You misunderstand."

"No, I don't," insisted Emma. "I know you and I definitely know her. It's really weird and kinda inappropriate. She's only seventeen and she's not actually  _me_."

Regina growled. "I'm fully aware of that. Occasionally she's more mature than you are - like now."

"Why are you ignoring my phone calls? When the girls first came to Storybrooke I was trying to call you to see if you were still in existence and you wouldn't answer me. Same as when you and Ri disappeared from the B&B. We're a thing now, if you don't want to talk to me the least you can do is say so. Do you know how irritating it is when you ignore me? Of course you do, you're probably enjoying this."

"I am not enjoying this interruption. Or your ridiculous accusations. I have a lot to do today."

"What, like seduce the teenage intern? That'll only take about five minutes not the whole day."

"I'm certain that you could not possibly have completed the reports I gave you yet. Perhaps your time could be better spent elsewhere than here wasting mine."

"Yeah, about those files that you ' _dropped off_ ' on me this morning. I'm not your personal slave, Regina. I've got work of my own to do. I'll do the reports when I get around to it."

"Will that be before or after I lose this election, Sheriff? You may think that I'm just giving you work for the sake of it but I oversee your department. I need them done so that I have something concrete to present when the council members ask me to prove that I've been competently fulfilling my duties as Acting Mayor."

"Oh you're definitely acting like the Mayor alright. Hiding behind titles. Everything has to be done on your terms. You just love bossing me around and getting your own way don't you?"

"Fine," snapped Regina. "Don't do them. Do whatever you want. You will anyway."

Emma's phone rang in her back pocket. She fished it out and jabbed 'Answer' right in Regina's line of sight as if to make a point of showing her how it was done.

_Obnoxious brat._

"Hello, this is Sheriff Swan, I'm answering my phone like a normal considerate person does... What's going on? ...Yeah, that's not really anything I can help with. You need to contact…"

While Emma was pacing around on the phone, Regina rifled through a bundle of papers that she had yet to answer. The conversation droned on and she barely registered it as background noise until the office fell silent and the next time she looked up, Emma was gone from in front of her desk. Had she used her powers to become invisible again or was she-

"Over here." Regina jumped in her seat as a voice whispered close against her ear and a pair of hands settled lightly on her shoulders from behind. She cursed herself for her touchy reaction. Emma must be standing directly behind her chair out of sight.

"Regina? Are we still mad at each other? Or is this like last year when we were fighting all the time but it was really just sexual tension because you wanted to sleep with me so badly?"

Regina didn't even deign to comment. Emma began to knead at her shoulders and then leaned over the chair back to press a kiss to Regina's cheek. She ran her fingertips down the lengths of Regina's arms and back up, massaging her shoulders again.

"You're really tense. I think you need to loosen up a bit. You can seduce  _me_  if you'd like? Unless you really are as busy as you say. I heard you talking to Em about sex and to be honest I'm a little jealous. Please can you tell me what you like so I know how to make it really good for you?" Emma said the last part in a fake little-girl voice.

It was obviously some stupid game and Regina didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she'd rattled her. She went back to typing at her laptop, knowing full well that ignoring Emma right now was the very thing that would piss her off even more. Her smug silence must've told Emma what she was up to.

"Ha. Oh yeah," Emma chuckled. "I see what you're doing. Ok, do your best to ignore me. We've been together for a couple weeks now so I've got a pretty good idea of what you like. I can run this show by myself. Let's see you ignore this..."

Goosebumps raced up Regina's neck and she shivered as she felt Emma slide her hands from her shoulders down the front of her crisp shortsleeved blouse. Deft fingers quickly sought and undid the buttons of her shirt. Despite the fact that she was now sitting at the desk in her office with her blouse gaping open and Emma was kissing and sucking the highly sensitive part of her neck, Regina forced herself not to react in any way. Moving or talking would give Emma the victory she was aiming for.

"You know what really annoys me about you, Regina?"

_I'm sure you're about to tell me._

"Something that has annoyed me every day since the moment we first met…. is how  _perfect_  you are. At everything. You're so straightlaced for a villain you know. So vanilla. I wish I could've seen you in one of your Evil Queen getups. You are overdressed for every occasion and now that I know exactly what's under your clothes I don't even have to imagine it anymore. You even wake up gorgeous. No wonder you have such a fascination with mirrors. The morning after we first made love I bet you got up and looked in a mirror before I woke up, didn't you? You're too put-together. Every time I see you I just want to mess you up. My favourite look on you..." Emma nuzzled her ear and dropped her voice to a whisper. "... is thoroughly fucked and wearing nothing but a bedsheet."

Regina had given up the appearance of typing now, though her hands still rested above the keyboard. The rest of her was frozen in place and all her senses were entirely attuned to two things. Emma's voice. Emma's hands.

Emma stopped talking for what she planned to do next, which was to trail her fingertips down between her breasts and then slip her hand inside her bra. There was only just enough room in the tight space but her fingers managed to roll and pinch the hardened nipple with her thumb and index finger. It irked her that Emma must know the effect she was having on her, must be able to tell she was aroused, and she wondered if she could feel the drum of her heartbeat in her chest too. Surely the other woman could hear it since it was thumping in her own veins, but the only sound was the quick intake of her breath and the slight rustle of fabric.

"And another thing… I'm not that convinced that your apples  _are_  the best I've ever tasted. Honeycrisps are okay I guess, but I think maybe Golden Delicious ones are sweeter? You know you have a really good apple when the flesh is sweet and tangy and so wet that you get the juice all over your mouth..."

_How dare she insult my apples in that crude manner!_

Did Emma know how close she was to death right now? Regina knew full well that she was only saying it to deliberately rile her up - and damn if it wasn't working. Regina had to stop herself from reacting and losing the game. She hadn't even agreed to play, but she was far too competitive not to. She had to inhale and exhale slowly to restrain her temper. Unfortunately, all that achieved was to press her rising chest into Emma's hand.

"Wasn't this one of your fantasies, Regina? Didn't you say you wanted to be under me on your desk?"

_No. It was you under me. As if you don't know._

"You can have me if you want. I'm right here. You just have to reach out and touch me. Is that what you'd like? To bend me over this desk and take me until I scream your name?"

Regina couldn't help shifting slightly in her chair at those words and she was so tense now she was desperate for bit of release and dying to arch her torso - this self-restraint was leaving her aching. She needed Emma to touch her and she knew it. Emma reached down and tugged her blouse free where it was still tucked in, but instead of sliding her hand inside her skirt the irritating woman fisted her hand in the shirt fabric, causing a rather obvious amount of creasing in the linen that would definitely show for the rest of the day.

"Oops! Sorry about the shirt, it's a little rumpled now. It's one of my favourites though. Red looks so good on you."

That was the last straw. Regina flicked the arm off her shoulder, bolted out of her chair and turned around to face Emma where she was still standing, looking at her with a shit-eating grin on her face.

"Emma! Does it look like fire-engine red to you? No. It's claret or wine or burgundy, but it is  _not_ red. Just like I told you the last time you said you liked this shirt. Stop messing with my clothes! You are wrong, Golden Delicious apples are  _not_  superior to any red apple variety and they are certainly not sweeter than mine. They bruise easily with rough handling. If you think I'm going to allow you to seduce me and frustrate me and then leave me uncomfortable for the rest of the day then you've got another thing coming."

"Oh god you are so hot when you're fired up," Emma breathed.

Regina stepped right up in Emma's face and with one hand at the base of her neck, she brought their mouths together in a hard kiss and plunged her tongue into the warm depth. Just like she'd wanted to do several times last year after they'd fought, she grabbed her and shut her up in the best way. What she hadn't known then was that the feeling had most definitely been mutual.

As they kissed, she felt the heat building low within her and until suddenly she couldn't wait to have her. They barely broke contact for a second, but somehow in the grasping at each other Emma lost her shirt and Regina pushed her back into the chair. She climbed onto Emma's lap, straddling her while Emma pushed the tight pencil skirt up, letting the fabric bunch at her waist. She grasped Regina's ass so she could pull her closer and raised one of her knees so that Regina could grind against her thigh.

"The door's not locked." Emma groaned and mumbled against her mouth. "Anyone-" kiss "could walk in."

"If we get caught," said Regina, panting now from the long minutes of kissing without pausing for breath. "I'll kill you."

"Worth it."

"For me, definitely."

"Just how would you explain this, Regina, hm? Would you ask me to stop? Would you  _want_  me to stop?"

"Don't you dare."

"We haven't got much time. It's nearly 1, don't you have a meeting after lunch. Do you want to come like this?"

"Yes," Regina gasped. Emma had her hand up her skirt now, skilled fingers slipped inside the silk of her underwear to tease her with slow upward strokes. She was already so wet. The movements gradually increased in pace, fingers circling over and around her clit repetitively. She could feel tightness building low inside her that was quickly becoming unbearable.

"Emma. Now."

"Fuck you?"

"Yes," Regina all but pleaded. She let out a breathy sigh as Emma pushed two fingers inside her and when she met little resistance, quickly replaced them with three instead. Emma kept her other hand on the small of Regina's back to steady her and keep her from getting too satisfied by the friction created by her own movements and clinging to Emma's bare shoulders. Emma had one foot firmly on the ground to steady the chair, since every time Regina leaned back a little she threatened to tip them both out of it.

Emma tilted her head so she could nuzzle Regina's neck. "You're so hot and tight around my fingers. I can feel when you're getting close."

Regina moaned, feeling her start to pump harder and deeper inside her. Emma kept murmuring in her ear, asking her if she wanted it "like this?" or "harder?" or "faster?" and she hardly knew if she managed to answer or whimper or nod a yes to each one. The muscles in her thighs were killing her, straining to match Emma's pace and give extra force to her thrusts onto her fingers. But it felt fantastic.

She had a vaguely conscious thought that this wasn't how her sexual fantasy had gone. It was supposed to be her taking Emma over the desk, holding her from behind as she writhed underneath her, about as close to coming apart as she was now and pleading with her for more and entirely dependent on her. But right now she didn't care about anything but how  _good_  it felt. She hadn't had to give up control for this, Emma was letting her have as much as she liked and giving her whatever she asked for. As selfishly as it had started out, this was all for her and she had a feeling that that was exactly what had been intended.

"Emma uhhh," Regina complained in protest, feeling her turn down the pace for a moment. Her strokes switched to agonisingly slow and gentle.

"I know what you want," murmured Emma. She dropped a kiss onto the curve of her breast above her heart. "You're close. I want you to look at me when you come. Please?"

Regina quickly agreed. She arched into it as Emma resumed moving her fingers faster this time, pushing in more firmly right on the spot that made her legs start to shake. "Yes. Emma. Uh!" She gasped when Emma brought her to the edge again and let her fall this time. Regina fell forward as the pleasure overtook her in waves, she closed her eyes for a second and when she opened them she was looking deep into a pair of startling green eyes watching her. It was intensely exposing maintaining such direct eye contact, still panting and throbbing from her orgasm, but Emma's gaze never wavered. She was as safe and secure there as she was in her arms.

This was her favourite part of it. Collapsing blissfully slack and being held. Neither demanding more nor wanting less. Her heart was still pounding and her breathing had yet to return to normal, but it was comfortable. Emma never pulled away too early. She was never in a hurry to have her leave or to get away from her and Regina found she always wanted to be close to her just a little longer. This was when their connection seemed strongest, tangible and real.

Right now, none of their issues seemed to matter. She let out a sigh of contentedness and closed her eyes.

"Better?" Emma kissed her lips lightly. "Are you enjoying this interruption yet?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Liar. I have evidence that you enjoyed that a lot."

"Was this your plan in coming over here? To rile me up and then..."

"Not exactly," Emma drew the words out. She patted Regina's thigh, indicating for her to get off so she could stand up. As Regina stood and pulled down her skirt her legs were still unsteady and pleasantly hot. Emma headed over to the private bathroom. Regina followed her.

In the bathroom, Regina glared at Emma's reflection in the mirror after inspecting her own. Her shirt was crumpled and hanging loose on her shoulders. Her skirt was in a similar creased state after being bunched up at her waist. Her hair was tousled from the way Emma had been running her hands through it and her lipstick was smeared across her mouth. Luckily she had makeup with her so she could fix her face, but there was not much she could do about the clothes in the time she had.

"Look what you've done to me," muttered Regina. "I have to spend the rest of the day looking like this. It looks like-"

"You had a lunchtime quickie in the office?" said Emma, still shirtless and all nonchalance as she washed her hands. "I have to go in a sec."

Regina looked at her in surprise. "What? But you never-"

"Oh I had fun, don't worry. Let's just say... you owe me." Emma's smug grin was back. "Game over, Regina. Thanks for playing."

* * *

_Frogger's Hollow_

"This game is rigged!" said Ri angrily. She thumped the steering wheel and then crossed her arms in a huff. The screen in front of her read 'YOU LOSE' and her computer-generated car was stopped where it'd smashed into the side barrier.

The teens were in the arcade in Main Street playing one of the car-racing games. It was Em's idea to show Ri some fun ordinary teenager-y things to do after they'd had lunch at the diner. It was the middle of the day so they had the whole place to themselves pretty much and there was ample opportunity to try all the games.

In front of the racecar seat where she sat, Em's screen declared her the winner showing: 'YOU WIN!' with a black and white checkered flag.

Em started to laugh hysterically. "Oh my god, you are such a sore loser, Ri. I beat you fair and square."

Ri pouted. "How could I lose?"

"You're hilariously adorable when you're mad you know. Maybe it's just that you suck at it."

"No, you suck at it too. I saw you hit that tree when I zoomed past on the second lap."

"I still won didn't I?"

"That's just because you grew up in this world and I didn't. You've had more practice at these silly timewasting games for children. Either that or you used your stupid magical powers to make my cart go slower. That obstacle came out of nowhere. Otherwise I would've won. You got lucky."

"Yep," snorted Em. "I got lucky. You lost 3-2, Ri."

"Then we have to play again! So I can win."

"Haha, you want to keep playing until you win? This could take a while. Like, the rest of our lives."

"Yes, of course. Whatever it takes."

Em was straight-faced and all innocence. "Sorry, haven't got any coins left. No more games."

"You are not telling the truth, Em," accused Ri. "You said you never run out."

Em thought for a minute and then squinted sideways at the other teen. She climbed out of her seat and held out her hand to help Ri up. "I got an idea. You up for it?"

"Is this going to be one of your ideas? What does it involve," said Ri suspiciously, accepting the hand as she climbed out.

"Going somewhere."

"Where? You said to Emma and Regina that we were going to the diner and then to the park. We are already somewhere we're not supposed to be."

"Ri," Em sighed exasperatedly. "Have I taught you nothing? You don't tell grownups the truth. Relax. What could go wrong?"

* * *

Ten minutes later the girls were standing at the kerb of Main St outside Mary Margaret's apartment where a bright yellow 1972 Volkswagen Beetle was parked. Em pulled a screwdriver, a rock, and a bent wire clotheshanger out of nowhere and stood close to the passenger side door.

Ri's eyes widened and she hissed. "What are you doing, Em? Are you stealing Emma's cart?"

"It's a  _car_  and it's registered to Emma Swan. Last time I checked that's me. So it's not stealing."

Em glanced up and down the street, keeping an eye out as she worked the wire coathanger into the gap between the door and the window. The lock easily slipped free with a clunk. Ta-dah! She opened the passenger side door and gestured for Ri to get inside.

"Get in, Ri. We're going parking."

Ri's patent black ballet flats never moved an inch from where they were. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, Em? This seems more complicated than riding a horse. I hope you're better at driving than you are at that arcade game."

"Nah it's a cinch. Been doing it all my life."

"But how does it work? Is this thing safe? Where are the horses?"

Em was amused by the question. On her way around to the driver's side she knocked her knuckles twice on the car's yellow rear, where the engine was hidden. "In here."

"They're trapped in there?" shrieked Ri.

"Yep, all fifty of them. This car is a classic. I'm so excited! I always wanted one. They're not called Love Bugs for nothing..."


	40. Prejudice

_Town Hall_

Emma's phone rang again just as she was about to leave Regina's office and the caller transmitted no good news.

"Yeah?" Emma said into the handset. "That's me ...What happened, is he ok?... Why didn't you try to reach- Oh yeah, she's here. We'll be right there."

Emma frowned as she hung up and Regina looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to explain.

"That was the school principal's office. She wants to see you. She has Henry in her office right now and is threatening to expel him."

Regina glared. "What for!"

"I don't know," said Emma defensively. "I didn't ask. I guess we'll find out when we get there. You would've got the call first if you were answering your phone, Regina. She's been trying to call you all morning. Officially, Henry only has one mother. Reminder: it's you. Lucky the kid's not dying of poison in a hospital this time."

"Shut up," Regina snapped. She hated that memory and having it thrown in her face out of nowhere was extremely irritating. Their truce had held long enough for an office tryst but it was short-lived and their fight was instantly back on. If Emma was cranky from getting all worked up without release then it was her own damn fault.

"Get your purse, we're leaving," said Emma.

Regina gritted her teeth, trying not to make it worse by letting her know how angry she was with being ordered around. She snatched her belongings up and called out to Emma's retreating form. "I'm driving."

"No way," Emma retorted without looking back. "We're taking the cruiser."

* * *

_Storybrooke Elementary, Reception office_

Emma fidgeted and tapped her foot impatiently while they waited. "What do you think this is about?"

Regina was annoyed by the question being asked yet again. "I don't know. For the tenth time. Henry's never been called to the principal's office before, except to receive awards."

"As if they're gonna expel the Mayor's kid. Nobody in this town is gonna risk pissing you off."

"Don't be too sure of that. You seem happy enough to risk it on a daily basis."

After another twenty minutes of excruciating waiting they were called in by an older severe-looking lady who barely stood five feet tall. She had her white hair scraped into a tight bun and though she was thin as a rail she carried herself with the proud bearing of a military officer. Her beady eyes had the perpetual squint of someone who had spent her entire life looking down upon others. Even her voice sounded like a honky bark.

"Miss Mills. A shame to see you under such unpleasant circumstances," said the school's principal.

"Yes, Mrs Gander. It is." Regina said, before glancing at Emma to introduce her. "This is Sheriff Emma Swan, Henry's other parent."

The severe woman cast a critical eye over Emma as though to question the validity of her presence.

"I'm beginning to see where the problem lies. Where is your uniform, Sheriff?"

Emma frowned. "Uh, I-"

"Speak properly, girl, and stand up straight. I cannot abide slovenly language and bad posture. These are the hallmarks of a disordered mind."

The principal turned on a heel and indicated for them to follow her into her office.

"I can see why she likes  _you_ ," Emma said in a petulant voice under her breath.

Regina hissed back. "She doesn't!"

The miniature principal pointed sharply for them to sit in a pair of rigid hard-backed chairs placed in front of her desk. She took her own seat and and clasped her hands primly on the barren surface in front of her. When she spoke though, she was talking only to Regina.

"I have called you here today to discuss a matter of serious import. This institution prides itself on the order, respect, and obedience of the pupils who study here. Naturally, since the breaking of the curse we have had to make some adjustments. However we are not in the business of making exceptions for the unacceptable behaviour of certain high-ranking children. Parents were instructed to notify us if their child was discovered to have any magical ability or latent power from the other realm. Why were we not informed?"

Regina resisted the urge to send Emma a questioning look. She hadn't received any such school correspondence because her son hadn't been living with her for some time after the curse broke. She didn't want to give Gander the satisfaction of knowing they'd had issues with Henry's custody and living arrangements.

Emma cleared her throat. "I didn't return that form because Henry doesn't have magic. He was never from that other place."

Gander regarded Emma with an unimpressed stare and it was clear she didn't believe her. "We have a zero tolerance policy for the use of magic against another student and it will be strictly enforced."

"One of the kids used magic on someone?" said Emma.

"No, Sheriff.  _Henry_  did it."

"Henry used magic against another child?" said Regina, shocked by the news.

"What! How," said Emma. "What'd he do?"

Mrs Gander seemed slightly ruffled and it made her tone even more clipped. "We were not able to ascertain exactly what was done. Neither the boy in question nor the multitude of students who witnessed the attack are willing to talk. They are too distressed and fearful to give lucid testimony."

"Attack?" said Regina. "Was anyone-"

"No-one was injured," said Gander, sounding almost disappointed that she didn't have a bloody corpse to present as evidence. "The victim supposedly can't remember why the altercation started."

"So basically it's Henry's word against the other kids'?" said Emma in disbelief. "You can't expel him when you don't even know what happened. You're only assuming magic was involved. Where else is he supposed to go to school, there's only one in Storybrooke and we're all trapped here. He's a good kid. This is bullshit!"

"There's no need for violent outbursts, Sheriff. I think it's clear what has led to this kind of behaviour from your son. Lack of discipline at home. I suppose that's to be expected given his situation and what he's been exposed to."

Emma was clearly struggling to restrain her temper. "Where is my kid? I want to talk to him."

"Miss Blanchard has him. Another one who is far too soft on children."

"Emma," warned Regina, hastily placing her hand on top of hers. The last thing they needed was for Emma to lose control of her magic in front of the prejudiced teacher. She sent her a pleading look.

"Why don't you go and wait outside. I need to discuss a proposal for additional school funding with Mrs Gander. Perhaps we can come to an agreement regarding Henry's future as well."

Emma ripped her hand away and rose to leave with a final glare at the principal.

"I suggest you re-evaluate your choices in life, Miss Mills," said Mrs Gander, not even bothering to hide her disdain until Emma was out the door.

* * *

Emma was leaning against the brick wall of the school's office building when Regina spied her and went over. She knew Emma would be seething over Gander's jibes, but she also knew that underneath that angry demeanor she was just worried about Henry. Parenthood was catching up with her fast and Regina certainly knew that feeling. They'd clashed with each other over it enough, both last year and this year. Emma was staring across the empty schoolyard but her eyes flicked over when she noticed her approach.

"Henry isn't going to be expelled," said Regina. "He's been sent back to class and will have lunchtime detention for the rest of the year as punishment."

"With Gander? Poisoning his mind, telling him god-knows-what about his family?" said Emma.

"No, not with her. Your mother supervises detention every other week so I'm sure he won't be too disappointed. I don't think he has friends to play with anyway."

"You used your political clout to get Henry out of trouble," said Emma in a fairly accusatory tone. "How much funding are we talking about here?"

"I did what I had to. It's done all the time."

"Still doesn't make it right."

"We have to find out the extent of Henry's magic, for his safety if nothing else. We may have to conceal whatever power he has from common knowledge. Mrs Gander is not the only one in this town who dislikes magic."

Regina spoke calmly but she was concerned to find out that Henry had magic and she was even more distressed to hear that he had used a spell against another person. That behaviour rang far too familiar for her and she couldn't bear the thought of her son following in her footsteps. Or worse, Gold's. Even though Emma had blindly defended their son, insisting that he was innocent, Regina was far less certain. Henry had not been like himself lately. Was magic corrupting him already?

"But  _how_?" said Emma. "Where did he get magic from. Did he learn it like you did? Or is it innate like mine? Either way we're going to have to teach him to control it."

"I'm not teaching him. My magic is dark. I want him to have nothing to do with it."

"Well, he's already messing around with magic. We still don't know who's responsible for everything that's been going on. Do you think he did it?"

"No. Whatever is going on with the border is not our son's fault. It can't be."

"Why? You said you felt someone's magic out there, someone who loves you. Unless you're still doubting that."

Regina's eyes flashed. "He wanted to get rid of magic remember? Not use it. He could've gotten himself killed trying to blow it up. How long did it take before you realised where he'd gone?"

Emma glared at her. "I'm not going to watch his every move like a hawk and turn him into a complete neurotic. Kids need a bit of freedom. I would've found him in time. Just like you did. He used to run off on you all the time last year."

"Yes, to be with  _you_ , Emma, and it used to worry me to death. It is of no comfort to me that our son runs away from you too."

"'Our son'? You called me Henry's parent in there too, you never admit that to anyone else if you can help it. What are we, Regina?"

After a long pause, Regina said quietly, "I thought we were family."

"Yeah, we are. But in the eyes of others we're not. Gander doesn't think much of the fact that Henry has two Mommies. You're my son's mother but that's not all you are to me and I don't know what else to call you. My partner? Too business-like. My girlfriend? Too teenager-y. My lover? Sounds like Mills & Boon. See what I mean?"

"Since when do you care about what people think."

"I don't, but I'm starting to realise that they won't take us seriously because we don't have a bit of paper. I don't have have any legal right to be here and it scares the hell out of me. What are we doing here, Regina? We've got a kid together. We're always going to be in each others' lives because of that, no matter what happens between us. But we also have this connection and I don't know about you, but to me it feels like much more than love and sex. There's no word that's enough to describe what we have."

_There's one that comes close,_  thought Regina.  _But you won't ask the question._

"I feel it even when we're fighting with each other," said Emma, looking away.

"I feel it too."

It seemed silly now to fight over inconsequential stuff when there were far more enemies outside their relationship than within. Whatever issues there were between them would be worked out… eventually. But both of them were a little bit too stubborn to apologise just yet and it was their first real fight since becoming a couple so they hadn't had much practice at making up. Regina didn't exactly feel up to making the first move either.

"What the hell went on in there," Emma started her rant again. "How could you tolerate that? Did you hear the way she talked about Henry and our 'situation'? To our faces! What kind of teacher in this day and age is still so… so…  _wrong_.I wasn't just going to sit there and let that old biddy make thinly veiled slurs about us."

"She was careful not to say anything explicitly. You can't force people to change their minds when they persist in wilful ignorance. There's more to it in this case. Let it go."

"I'm not really a 'let it go' kinda girl. I'm more of a 'give her a piece of my mind' kind of girl. I wanted to take her pinchy wrinkled old face and slap it. With a chair."

"It won't do any good if either of us loses control with our child's school principal. She has influence with a lot of parents here. I can't afford to get her offside if I'm to win this election."

"Yeah, I think I'm beginning to see how the game's played. I hate this shit."

Regina knew that Emma had little patience for politics and diplomacy, which was odd for someone who was an elected official. But those who had dealt with her trusted her and anyone who mistook her youth and pretty looks for weakness soon found out that she was made of stronger stuff. It was her sense of justice and integrity which made her in some ways unsuitable for her job and, paradoxically, better suited to it than anyone Regina could've imagined in that position.

Regina knew it was on her as to why Emma had been unknowingly ambushed by Gander this afternoon. Because of the curse, Emma hadn't lived in the Enchanted Forest or known anyone who had. That was why she didn't know any of the old politics.

"Lucy Gander comes from an old clan," explained Regina. "They were famous for their hatred of magic and acts of persecution of people from certain Royal bloodlines. They believe that Royals have been allied with Fairies for too long and that magic has contaminated the objectivity of their rule. She is certainly aware of your Royal blood and knowing who your parents are, she'll have assumed where you are situated politically as well. She and my mother were connected socially."

"How?"

"By a stalemate. They hated each other with an enmity so deep it makes Snow White and I look like the best of friends. I think they had enough dirt on each other to bring them both down. Most likely Gander expects that I've inherited the information."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "And have you?"

"You are not a Mills so you can't know."

"Fine," snapped Emma. "I know when the vault's being slammed shut in my face."

"It's not like that," Regina implored her to understand but she wouldn't even look at her. "The information is protected magically, I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. As for what she knows about my mother, I have my suspicions. She was a dangerous woman in the other world, Emma. Like it or not, you and Henry are of Royal blood. I won't put you at risk over ancient history."

"I have to get back to work," declared Emma.

* * *

_Town Hall_

After Emma dropped her off Regina swiftly returned to her office. She had already missed one meeting and had neither the time nor the inclination to reschedule another. Her assistant Martha wasn't at her desk when she breezed through and after throwing her purse onto her own desk, Regina headed straight over to the crystal service to pour herself a finger of alcoholic cider.

"Bad day, Your Majesty?" an accented voice asked behind her.

She hid her surprise and turned around with a sickly sweet smile. Years at court had taught her to force politeness when she would rather offer none. Her sarcasm would've been undetected by simple nobles but not by this man who knew her unfortunately well.

"Would you care for a drink, Gold?"

"No thankyou, dear. I know better than to partake of any of your apple-themed delights. I might not survive. Oh no, wait - you reserve your precious fruit for murdering the ones you love most don't you? Mary Margaret. Emma. Henry."

Regina held her breath to compose her anger. Was everyone going to kick the sands of her past in her eyes today? This day was obviously determined to get worse. She just had to get Gold and his stirring over and done with. Like a root canal or any other unpleasantly invasive procedure.

She snatched her drink up and walked over to her desk. Gold followed her over and took the visitor's seat in front of her desk without asking. He adopted the tone of a concerned friend, although he was anything but.

"I hear you had a run-in with the formidable Mrs Gander today," said Gold. "Be careful there, dearie. She's just about the most dangerous non-magical being there is."

That happened barely an hour ago. How could Gold know about it already?

Regina gave him a perceptive look. "You have someone at the school. Who is it. A teacher? A student perhaps?"

Gold chuckled. "Yes, you could say that. A rather promising young man actually."

"Well, there's no use trying to ally yourself with Gander against me. She hates you just as much as she hates me. She'd happily burn us both and dance around our pyres."

"I don't know about that, Regina. You've recently taken up with Royals and gotten yourself a new fairy godmother. With Cora gone, I think you've risen to number one on her list."

"I won't lose sleep over it," Regina said vaguely, as she browsed through her schedule to check who her next meeting was with. Gold seemed to take her nonchalance as a challenge to needle her.

"It must be difficult for you, tolerating the Charmings after hating them for so long. You're going to be stuck with them forever now. They're a package deal. You must know that Emma will never choose you over them if it comes to it. If you make good on your revenge you will certainly lose her forever."

She  _did_  know, but Regina couldn't resist retorting this time. "Her parents may be a royal pain in the proverbial, but so are everyone's in-laws and I can put up with them for her sake. I think I know Emma better than you do."

"Then you know that after a lifetime of feeling abandoned her natural instinct is to be the one who leaves first, before you get the chance to leave her."

That definitely rankled. After the problems they'd been having ever since moving in together, Regina had been wondering if Emma was feeling trapped or like she'd been coerced into it before she was ready. She hated the idea that circumstances forced Emma into that choice, the way she as a young woman had been forced to marry and to become mistress over a castle and its hundreds of occupants. Her path had been planned out for her and she couldn't have refused the King's offer or anything that came after their marriage. When the King asks you for something, the only answer is yes - if you want to live in society ever again. Or live at all.

Once, when she and Emma been making love they'd tried a new position that had some unfortunate memories attached to it for Regina. Emma had noticed her go quiet and she'd figured out quickly that there was something wrong. She'd held her until the tears of frustration dried up and listened to her vent her feelings of powerlessness over both the events of the memory and why her mind was bringing it up again now. Why now when Regina knew she was with someone who always made her feel safe and loved?  _"You always have choices with me. You can say no at any time for any reason, if that's what you want,"_ Regina clearly remembered her saying.

In the bedroom (or wherever else they happened to be having sex), Emma always checked with her before doing anything new or different. She'd said it was because Regina had had her consent abused in the past and that she'd noticed that Ri had problems speaking up for herself. She never wanted to be just another person in her life who took something from her that she didn't want to give. The first and last thing with Emma was taking care of her. The least Regina could do was give her the same freedom. Emma had led an itinerant lifestyle ever since she ran away from the foster system and it was only in the last year that she'd stayed in one place for any substantial length of time. She didn't seem to be dealing very well with being tied down. The question was: did Emma want to leave?

_If she does… will I be strong enough to let her go?_

Regina grabbed the stack of mail that Martha must've left on her desk and started slicing the envelopes open with her apple knife.

"How are things between you and Emma," asked Mr Gold.

"Like I'm going to tell you. Shall we braid each other's hair and share secrets too?"

"We already share plenty of those. I remember you were quite fond of braids as a young lass weren't you? So hopeful. So trusting. Not like now."

"I was wrong to put my trust in you. Each and every time. That's a mistake I won't make again."

"Is trust an issue in your relationship with Emma? Are you able to trust her fully with your heart? Can you let go of your control and really give yourself to her? Emotionally, I mean. Or are you still too damaged from a lifetime of mourning the loss of your first love. Have you let that pain go yet?"

Regina nearly sliced her hand open with the knife. "If I need useless psychoanalysis I'll talk to Dr Hopper."

"It is strange now to realise that only last year you tried to poison the woman you now claim to love. She was already on her way out of town, but you couldn't let her go could you. What made you think of the Sleeping curse in the first place? A rather cruel fate for someone who may or may not have a True Love waiting out there somewhere. For someone who was already offering you a truce and trying to get away from you. Unless you were hoping to test your own love for her to see if it was true. Would you have kissed her lifeless lips to see if she'd wake for you and only you?"

"Why are you here, Gold," asked Regina, rapidly losing her patience. "Why are you asking about Emma and I?"

"How are things between you physically?"

Regina made a noise of incredulity. "What are you - jealous? Or are you getting off on this? Might I suggest an evening with Lacey. Buy her dinner. Take her dancing. Or call a 900 number, I don't care which."

"Lacey refuses to talk to me." Gold pierced her with his gaze, letting her know he blamed her for it. "She doesn't remember who I am, or who she is for that matter. She won't give us the chance to fall in love again. That's why I'm here."

"What have your romantic deficiencies got to do with me?"

Gold's stare turned menacing. "Well, since you took Belle's memories away… you're going to help me get them back."

"I've told you before, I can't-"

"You will. When the time comes you will give me what I need. In fact, you already have. It's written all over your face."

Gold leaned on his cane to rise and gave her his crooked grin, the one that promised nothing good. He reached over to her shoulder and made as though he was picking a piece of lint of her blazer.

"Good day, Your Majesty."

The second he was out the door, Regina downed her drink in one burning gulp.


	41. Surprise

* * *

_Take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are magic." - Frida Kahlo_   


* * *

The girls were parked just out of town in a clearing in the woods that was a popular makeout spot with teenagers. Em sent a silent thanks to Ruby for telling her about it. She had driven the stolen Bug there and after explaining to Ri that "parking" involved more than just stationary cars, Em suggested casually that they might swap to the backseat so they could kiss for a while.

Since Ri's injury at the stables they hadn't shared much more than a soft peck while she was still healing, but now the cut had sealed itself into a shiny dark-pink scar. At first, Em had been afraid of hurting her and though Ri admitted that her lip was still tender and sensitive she swore that it wasn't painful.

Both of them were keen to resume exploring each other and to restore their connection physically. The last time they'd gone this far had been at the B&B and things heated up very quickly between them again now.

"Is this working for you, Ri?" Em broke the kiss for a breath and then started kissing Ri's neck instead. She worked her fingers up the back of Ri's neck to massage them through the long dark hair that was loose and slightly curled from her usual braid.

"Oh, yes. Like that. That's nice," Ri sighed before her brain registered the question. "Wait, what did you ask?"

"Is this ok. Are you feeling good?"

"Yes." Ri giggled. "Maybe too good. I love it when you do that."

Em grinned to herself, satisfied that she'd gotten her answer.

Em was sitting with her back against the seat and Ri was in her lap, straddling her legs. She seemed to like being there or perhaps it was just that it was familiar to her since they'd made out like that before. She was still wearing the skirt suit that she'd borrowed from Regina, although Em had made short work of removing the blazer and blouse so she could feel her bare skin. Not to be outdone, Ri demanded that Em be shirtless likewise so that she could have the same pleasure. But the difference was that Em wasn't wearing a bra underneath and Ri started blushing furiously.

"Hop up for a sec so I can take my jeans off," said Em, patting Ri's thigh. She hoped that giving Ri a bit of a break would distract her from her shyness. She knew the other girl wasn't at all experienced with sex but Ri also hadn't grown up in a world where scantily-clad women adorned billboards and television screens. Ri seemed more shy because of Em's lack of covering than she was about her own though. More like she couldn't stop herself looking.

Em kicked off her Chucks and yanked off her jeans with some difficulty in the small car until she was down to her black cotton briefs. She pulled at the tie around her ponytail and freed her long blonde hair so that it fell down her back.

"Em, you're almost naked," said Ri worriedly. "What if somebody comes?"

"Hopefully two someones will." Em grinned. "Don't worry, there's no-one else out here. It's raining and we've done a pretty good job of fogging up the windows already."

"You're so-" Ri gave her a bashful smile. "You look very nice, Em. Do I take mine off too?"

"Only if you want to?" Em reached around the other girl's back and when Ri nodded she undid the clasp pulled the garment off her shoulders and down her arms. She was caught between wanting to look but trying not to stare and embarrass her. She knelt on the seat, knees on either side of Ri's and drew her close so that their chests were pressed together. She laid her head in the crook of Ri's shoulder and ran a hand down her back. Her skin was so soft.

"You're more beautiful than I could've imagined. Do you have any idea how I feel right now?" whispered Em.

"I think I do. Are we going to- Do you want to keep going?"

"Yes," Em admitted. She sat back so she could look her in the eyes. "I don't want to stop. But if you're not ready we don't have to-"

Ri cut her off with a fingertip to her lips. "I want this too."

"Ok." Em smiled shakily.

"I wish I knew what I was doing though."

"I don't really know either. We'll figure it out together ok?"

Ri looked up at her expectantly, dark eyes full of desire and gave her  _that_ look. Em couldn't help but want to kiss her breathless, even more so now that they were going to further. She moved her mouth so that she could suck on Ri's bottom lip, well away from the extra sensitive scar. When Ri opened her mouth indicating that she wanted to deepen the kiss, their tongues slid against each other and it was hot and wet.

Em knew that Ri had little experience to work from and that she was mostly repeating what they'd done last time or copying her moves. She was dying to show her more but when Ri went to touch her like she'd done once before her own pleasure distracted her from what she was meant to be doing. She broke the kiss with a groan.

"Ri, uh-" Em moved her hand and held it.

"Was that not right? Weren't you enjoying it-"

Em rushed to reassure her. "Yes, it was perfect. Too good."

"Oh."

Em inhaled trying to catch her breath. "You first ok? Here, turn around and lay back against me."

"Em, will anyone know?"

"No," Em chuckled. "It's just us. Not even the older boring versions of us will know. Although I'm pretty sure they're having all sorts of kinky sex already and they're not always quiet about it either."

Ri giggled. "How many kinds are there?"

"Just you wait. We'll start with vanilla and work our way up to chocolate ok? Depending on what chocolate actually is of course."

"Sounds yummy."

"I hope so. Ri, if you don't like something or if you want to stop please say so."

"I will. I trust you."

Ri laid back against Em's chest and Em wrapped her arms around her, settling one hand near her chest and the other near her hip. "Close your eyes, but don't fall asleep on me," Em whispered into her hair and then cupped her breast and rolled the bud with her thumb. With her right hand, she trailed her fingers up Ri's inner thigh and under her skirt and started stroking her lightly over her underwear.

"Feels nice," Ri murmured.

"Mmhm. Want more?"

"Yes. Keep touching me like that."

Her strokes became more firm. A thrill of excitement ran through Em when she realised Ri's underwear was becoming wet. She was determined to make this a pleasurable experience for her and as she was far from being an expert, Em was relieved that she was managing to do it right. She slipped her hand inside the silk and circled the tip of her finger against the spot that felt so good when she touched herself.

Ri bent her knee so she could push her heel into the seat and raised herself higher against Em for better leverage. Em pinched her nipple lightly and Ri whimpered and arched into her hand. Every time she increased her pace or rhythm, Em was paying careful attention to every sigh and moan and shudder so that she could make sure to keep doing whatever Ri responded to.

"Em, I think - I feel like I need you to -"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Ri breathed. "But will it hurt -"

"No, it won't. I'll never hurt you, Ri."

"Oh."

Em whispered in her ear what she was going to do next to give her warning and any last chance to say no. She drew her finger over entrance and then slipped inside her. Ri gasped at the new sensation but didn't seem distressed at all, quite the opposite. Em was surprised how hot and soft it felt. She pressed her again and then drew back a little to give her some time. Ri's brows furrowed in an adorable way that said "Why'd you stop?" so Em went back to stroking her most sensitive area between her two fingers with the wetness she gathered.

"Could you-" Ri panted. "Faster?"

"Are you getting close, Ri?"

"Yes! Ohh… keep doing that. Please."

Em kissed her cheek. "Love you."

She moved her left hand down and under the silk, pushed two fingers a little way into her as far as the constricting underwear would allow. But the tight friction was enough for Ri. Em's pleasure was twofold, holding Ri and watching her ride out the intense emotions she was feeling, and secondly, the thrill of knowing that she'd made it happen. How amazing it was to be able to make someone else feel like that.

Ri was still trying to catch her breath but she managed to laugh. "That was - oh my goodness - now I know why. That was amazing, Em."

"You're amazing."

"No, it's you. I think you made this very nice for me. My first time. I knew you would."

Em knew what Ri was probably referring to - that she could choose to give herself to someone she loved and someone who would take care of her. She'd be forever thankful for being able to give Ri this, no matter what happened in their futures they'd always have this safe loving happy memory to treasure. She held Ri in her arms, listening to the quiet intake of her breath, until Ri sat up and turned around.

"Em, you must want to as well?"

"Yeah um. Ri, can I try something?"

"Tell me what you'd like. Or show me."

Em kissed her and lowered her onto the seat. There wasn't much room to manoeuvre in the backseat of the small car so she had to negotiate where her limbs were going to go. She took off her glasses and set them on the back of the seat so they wouldn't get lost. It annoyed her that Ri was a little blurry and she wished for the millionth time that her vision didn't suck. Out of nowhere she produced a pillow and quickly put it under Ri's head.

"Now where did you get that," said Ri, smiling up at her.

"It's mine. I always have it with me."

"Like my heart. You didn't even ask before you stole it, thief."

"Sorry, princess." Em gazed at her lovingly and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Guess I couldn't help myself."

Em gently settled herself down so that her legs were on either side of Ri's thigh but she still had one hand under the pillow propping herself up. She asked her if her weight was too heavy for her and when Ri shook her head, Em lowered to kiss her. The curtain of her blonde hair fell over her shoulder and tickled Ri's chest and the other girl shuddered visibly.

When she moved the tips of her breasts brushed against Ri's and it felt so good that she did it again. It felt more sensitive than usual and she was acutely aware of everywhere Ri touched her. Ri ran her hands from Em's waist up over her bare back and clung to her shoulders. Em started moving on Ri's thigh over and over.

"Em? Don't hold back," Ri said softly. "Harder if you'd like."

"You feel so good," Em panted.

She collapsed on top of her fully. Ri took the hint and pushed her knee up so that she was pressing tighter against the heat that was building between her legs. It felt good for Ri too but she was wanted to focus on Em's pleasure. Whatever she lacked in technical skill she made up for it in eagerness to please. She caught onto Em's motion and tried to match her thrust for thrust. Em buried her face in Ri's shoulder and moaned at a particularly well-timed move.

"Oh God!"

Ri cradled Em's head. "I know. It feels really good doesn't it."

"Regina." Em called her by her full name for once. She breathed heavily into her neck. "Can you try-"

But Ri couldn't read her mind and Em didn't want to explain out loud what she wanted her to do. She shifted her weight off for a second and took Ri's hand in her own. She lowered back down with their hands trapped between their lower bodies. Em pressed Ri's fingers into her, where the tension was building up unbearably even as she tried to find some release by arching her hips. She was so close.

Em went rigid and Ri kept it up herself. "Yes. That's it. Don't stop, don't stop."

"I love you, Emma Swan. You're mine. I want you and only you." Ri was murmuring in her ear, telling her how wanted she was. The words were like magic, bringing her higher until finally she came and fell onto the soft warm body beneath her. She held Ri's hand tight and hard where the throbbing pleasure was, as the sensations overtook her again and again. While she calmed down, Em laid spent in Ri's arms, still panting hard. Everything else was quiet and she could swear she heard Ri's heartbeat pounding in time with her own.

"Is this-" said Em, breathlessly. "Ok? Am I too heavy for you, Ri?"

"No, you're fine. It feels lovely. Stay there, please. Just a little longer?"

Em sighed. "Forever."

* * *

Ri buttoned her up her blouse and stole a look at Em, who was battling her jeans and trying to pull them up in the tight space. She smiled to herself, thinking over what they'd just done and what it meant to her and how it now felt like the entire world had changed. It had been new to her and though she'd been a tiny bit nervous about being behind Em in experience and knowing what it was all about, she hadn't been scared at any point. The whole thing had been romantic. It was wonderful being so close to the one she loved in this way.

This was what people wrote about in the stories. This was what had been so dangerous and mature for her to know that people had kept her in the dark about it. This is what people desired and fought for at high cost. She'd been kept away from knowing anything about it as befitted a young lady of her station. It was kind of exciting to know now what it was really like and satisfying that she'd done it.

She felt grownup and so in love with the girl she adored and just a little bit naughty.

"Where did my shirt end up?" said Em, looking around with a puzzled purse of the lips. She had her glasses back on but they'd both had difficulty locating their articles of clothes from the random way they'd been discarded.

"I threw it," said Ri. She plucked the shirt from where it lay crumpled on the back of the seat near the window. "Here."

"Thanks." Em donned her shirt and then bent her knee up so she could tie her shoes.

"Em, I really think we should do this again sometime," said Ri, seriously.

"Anytime, Ri," Em said before a grin broke over her face. "Just ask. You're so cute when you're being all bossy. I have this picture of you in my head demanding that we should have sex."

"And you'll be so hopelessly under my spell that you'll do anything I want?"

"Oh hell yes."

"We should go back soon, do you think? The car's starting to cool down quite a lot."

"Yeah, let's get going then."

Ri opened the door so she could run around to the passenger seat and Em climbed over the gap to sit back in the driver's seat. Em searched her jeans pockets until she found the keys and started the car. The engine came to life with it's characteristic VW rumble.

It wasn't raining as hard as it had been before but the roads were still wet. Ri's attention wavered as she stared out the window, lost in thought as they drove back to town. She watched the rain spit on the glass and later she'd remember wondering why she hadn't been looking. Wondering if it would've made a difference. Maybe she would've seen it.

She remembered hearing Em gasp and slam on the brakes. She remembered feeling the car slide out of control… but it all happened so fast.

* * *

"Em!"

"Em. Em. Em, wake up!"

Ri started to panic when she got no answer. The car was stalled off the road and the driver's side door was hanging open. She could hear the fall of soft rain and the clunk of the wiper blades still going but the only other sound was her breathing.

Em wasn't moving. The teenager was slumped over the steering wheel and she was either unconscious - or worse. Ri reached over to shake her shoulder but she wouldn't wake.  _No! She'll be fine. It's ok. It has to be. Things like this don't happen to me. Other people lose people they love. Not me._

She had to get help somehow. She looked around. They were still on the lonely road that headed out of town. She definitely couldn't drive and with the car spun around, Ri wouldn't even know which way to start walking. Both directions looked the same to her.

Ri reached over to grab Em's phone out of her back pocket and pressed the only button she could find. But that was futile too, the little screen had a red warning on it that said "WRONG PASSCODE" and she wouldn't have known how to work the modern device properly anyway.

"Em, I really need to you to wake up. We need help. I don't know what to do!"

Maybe Em was very badly hurt. Back home, people didn't survive any kind of serious accident. They died. There was nothing that could be done. What if she lost her? Ri had new sympathy for her older self right now, realising how it must've felt to lose someone you loved when you were just getting to know them so well, just starting to hope and plan for the future… and then nothing. It was all taken away in an instant. How unfair. Her panic was beginning to be overtaken by anger and pain. The thought of what she might do scared her.  _Is this what it was like for her? I could never get over this. She was right to punish them all!_

Ri looked down at her hands, one of which still held Em's phone, and suddenly she could feel energy vibrating in them. She clenched her fists to make it stop and when it didn't she started to cry. Was her magic showing already? One of her teardrops landed on the phone screen with an inaudible splish.

Knock knock knock. "Young Regina!"

Ri jumped out of her skin at the voice and urgent tapping on the side window. The door flew open and almost anyone would've been a welcome sight. None more so than-

"Astrid?" Ri breathed in wonder, taking a second to fully process it. The nun was wearing a bright pink rain slicker and gumboots.

"Astrid, I need your help!"

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Astrid peered at her face to check. "You're shivering. I think you're in shock."

"No, no, I'm fine." Ri shook her off. "Help Em! Please," she begged.

Astrid went around to the driver's side and Ri jumped out of the car to follow. She watched Astrid gently move an unconscious Em out of her slump and check her over.

"I think she's just knocked out," said Astrid. "Did she hit her head?"

Ri bit her lip. The new nerves there exploded in pain and she winced. "I'm not sure."

"She might have a concussion. We need to take her to the hospital."

"Is she going to die?" Ri asked thickly, tears falling again.

Before Astrid could reassure her, Em started to rouse. Her eyes were still closed as she rolled her head from one side to the other. The injured teenager frowned hard and moaned softly.

"'oof. Saw it." Em slurred. "Woof."

"What's wrong with her!" cried Ri.

"Shh don't worry," soothed Astrid. "She's just a bit confused. It's normal with head injuries. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"How did you know to come here?" said Ri.

Astrid gave the frightened teen a comforting smile. "I'm your fairy godmother. I'm here to take care of you both."

Ri nodded. She opened the nearside passenger door so that she and Astrid could move Em to the back seat.

A long thin object fell out of Em's pocket and hit the ground with a clink as it rolled on the asphalt. It was about six inches long, tapered towards its tip, and coloured royal blue with a gold spiral winding around it. Even though it lay still on the road out in the open the rain didn't seem to hit it. It looked like the raindrops were being repelled somehow or changing their minds at the last second before making contact with the brilliant glass.

Astrid bent over to retrieve the wand. "Do you know what this is, Regina?"

Ri shrugged. "That's Em's. She said it was a child's toy."

"This isn't a toy. It looks like -" Astrid frowned. "Would you mind if held onto this for a while?"

"I'm not sure why you're asking me. I suppose so. Please, can we get Em some help now?"

* * *

_Storybrooke General Hospital, 2 hours later_

Em sat quietly on the hospital bed. She was alone, waiting behind the screen for the doctor to come back and see her so that she could get discharged. She felt exposed and uncomfortable wearing the thin crunchy hospital-issue gown. Why was it so cold in here? Her head was killing her with it's unrelenting throbbing pain and she felt herself growing cranky while being kept waiting.  _Ugh, my head. What is taking them so loooong._

"Em S.?" A handsome young doctor poked his head around the screen. He looked at her strangely for a second and did a double-take. He looked down at the chart in his hand to verify he had the right patient. "DOB 10/22/1983?"

"Yeah. That's me."

"You look too young to be nearly 29," the doctor pointed out as he came in to examine her. He shone a light in her eyes and checked them.

"It's a typo. I was actually born in - um, I'm seventeen. I just wrote that because my parents don't know I'm here. You won't tell them will you?"

"Legally I am required to in the case of a minor. But let's just say I'm not very good with dates. I can barely make it past the first one. You're eighteen ok? I take it you don't have insurance either."

Em looked down. "I can't pay."

The doctor nodded. "Don't worry about that for now. That other girl waiting outside for you with the nun, who is she? She looks about your age and frightfully worried."

"My girlfriend." Em wasn't sure if she should say so.

"Ah. Well, she reminds me of someone I once knew. Someone I didn't do right by when she came to me for help."

Em sighed impatiently. "Can I go yet? Please, I have to get to Ri. She'll be scared."

"I just need to have a chat with you about your test results, then you'll be good to go. I'm Dr Frankenstein by the way, since we're not going by real names here."

Em gave him a small smile. "Right. I'd rather you didn't put bolts in my neck then."

He smiled at the joke and then skimmed the top sheet of her chart. "Ok. The ER resident checked you out and diagnosed a mild concussion. On arrival you were semi-conscious and suffering confusion, dizziness, and some memory loss but your cognition seems improved now. It says here you were involved in a car accident. Do you remember what happened yet?"

Em nodded. "I was driving. I saw something. I think. I didn't want to hit it."

"Did you black out before or after the accident?"

"After. Hit my head on the steering wheel when we slid off the road. Lost control in the wet. The back tires spun out."

"Oversteer. It's common with rear-engine cars like the Bugs."

Em regarded him suspiciously. "I never told you what kind of car it was."

The handsome doctor raised his eyebrows. "There's a banged up yellow VW in the parking lot. Sister Astrid drove you two here. Now there's a fine lady for you, it's a real shame she's a nun. Otherwise I'd date her in a heartbeat."

"Keep it your pants, doc. She's not a nun anymore but she's definitely taken."

"Speaking of sex, how long have you been sexually active?"

Em sighed again.  _Typical grownup question_. "Since last year."

"How recently? In the last few weeks?"

"Look, what is this about. Can't I go already? I'm fine now, I've just got a headache from hitting my head. I want to go home. I'm tired."

"Well, I'm prescribing rest for at least all of today and tonight. But there's something else you need to be aware of."

The doctor flipped the page on his clipboard and scanned the test results again. "You know you submitted to a urine test when you were triaged. According to this, you're pregnant. Congratulations."


	42. Unwanted

It felt like all of the air had been sucked out of the universe. There was a beat of silence while she stared at the doctor in shock and her brain registered what he'd said. "W-what? No," Em whispered, shaking her head.

"Judging from your hCG levels it's a new pregnancy, maybe only 12-14 days. Too early for most symptoms to show. You should organise some pre-natal care as soon as possible. It's important for a woman during pregnancy to..."

Em listened to him drone on and on about eating enough and exercising and a thousand other things, but she was numb to it all. She wished he'd stop saying that word. _Pregnant. Pregnant. Pregnant._

She'd known this was in her near future but it still didn't take the edge off the surprise and the enormity of it all. It hadn't seemed real until now. She was going to have a baby. A baby! A living breathing smiling talking laughing thinking little person was on his way into the world, growing inside her right now. A specific little person who she already knew. Her life was never going to be the same again.  _It's too soon. I'm not ready. How could this happen to me? I'm only seventeen. I can't do this. I can't be a mother for god's sake I can't even take care of myself. I can't. I can't. I can't. What am I going to do? A baby…._

_"I like the sound of that. Our child."_

_"That's right, the kid's going to be in there one day isn't he?"_

_"Oh Em, we're going to have a son together. Isn't it amazing?_ "

_"I dunno if it's amazing. I suppose he came into the world just like every other person who ever lived."_

_"I don't care what you say, my baby boy is special."_

The memories crashed to the forefront of her mind like the car accident she'd just been in. Ri was happy and excited already, so why wasn't she?

The doctor stopped talking for a minute, to carefully gauge her reaction to the news. "Is this an unwanted pregnancy?"

"Don't  _ever_  use that word about my kid!" snapped Em.

"I apologise. I only meant that you seemed surprised and because of your age… well, I strongly urge you to tell the adults or parents in your life, they'll be able to-"

"No."

"Do you have someone to take care of you?"

"I can take care of myself. Am I done here?"

The doctor gestured loosely with hand, like he'd done all he could and there was no use arguing with her - which there wasn't.

Em slid off the bed, without looking at him. She grabbed her pile of clothes where they were waiting on the foot of the bed and headed for the bathroom. She stilled with her hand on the doorknob when he spoke to her.

"Em?" the doctor's voice sounded quietly behind her. "Do you know what you're going to do?"

Em ignored him and shut herself inside the bathroom. She caught her own panicked expression in the mirror and quickly looked away, eyes settling downward towards her abdomen where she was hugging her clothes to herself. Her eyes flooded with tears until her vision blurred and she slapped her free hand over her mouth to stifle any noise.

_Yes. I know what I'm going to do… because I've already done it._

* * *

_Storybrooke Elementary School_

The usual melee and rush of parents collecting their offspring greeted Emma when she went to pick Henry up from school that afternoon. She'd wanted to see him after she and Regina had been called in to the principal's office but he'd been sent back to class so she didn't want to push it and get him into any further trouble.

When Emma texted her mother to check on Henry she was surprised to hear that Mary Margaret had witnessed the supposed magical incident (a fact which the teacher had not admitted to Principal Gander at risk of losing her job). Apparently Henry and an older boy named Ethan had been arguing in the playground and Mary Margaret had been the teacher on duty. All she saw was Henry push his arms out and then the other boy was flung into the air and landed on the ground six feet away.

That was eyewitness testimony the Sheriff could not ignore. Regina had done the same to her out of anger. Mary Margaret certainly wouldn't lie about such a thing. It must be true. Henry had attacked another child with magic.

Emma knew there had to be more to this whole situation with Henry though. He'd been acting strangely for some time, especially since last weekend when he'd confessed that he didn't want her and Regina to be together but refused to say why. Regina had vehemently denied the possibility of Henry being involved in whatever was going in Storybrooke recently but Emma wasn't so sure. He knew too much and she suspected he was keeping secrets from them.

She caught sight of him straggling behind the crowd of kids by himself and waved him over.

"Hey kid! Over here."

"Emma," said Henry, sounding surprised to see her. He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her waist for a hug.

"So I was thinking we haven't done much on Operation Cobra for a while. You wanna go on a stakeout?"

"Yeah! Like where?"

"How about your castle? The new one."

"Nah, too many kids."

Henry shook his head and wouldn't agree to any other place she suggested either. So they ended up sitting in Emma's cruiser in main street, parked outside the diner watching the people come and go. Henry didn't seem very enthused about the stakeout anymore, he got bored of it quickly but he still seemed down about something. She was growing impatient waiting for him to come to them with his problems. The direct route was more her style.

"Henry. Your Mom and I got called up to your school today. Do you know what it was about?"

"Yeah."

"The principal wanted to expel you. She said you used magic against another boy?"

"Yeah."

_This is like pulling teeth_ , thought Emma. "Is that all you're gonna say? Can you tell me what happened. Why you did it? How you did it?"

"I don't want you to hate me," Henry mumbled.

Emma reached over to ruffle his hair. "Oh kid, I could never hate you."

"What about Mom?"

"Your Mom could never hate you either. She'd do anything for you. You know who she used to be and you've seen how hard she's trying to change. She did that because she loves you so much. You helped her to see that she can be good again. She's doing really well. I'm proud of her, aren't you?"

"Yeah. But everyone still hates her because of what she did. I thought you hated her too. Do you really love her, Emma?"

"Yes, I do. We're together now. The last few months your Mom and I weren't in a good place and I know it was hard on you. But we're really trying to make it work now and we want you to be happy about it as well. If you have any questions you can come to either of us at any time, I mean that. I don't want to be the kind of parent that you can't be honest with. I promise you that I'll listen, whatever it is. Can you tell me why you don't like the idea of me and your Mom being in a relationship?"

Henry looked at her sideways under a stubborn brow. "I don't want you to be together if you're just going to leave her."

"Why do you think I'm going to leave?"

"Neal left and he's supposed to be my Dad. I saw him leaving with Tamara when I was at Mr Gold's shop last Saturday. Are you going to go too?"

"No. I'm not gonna chase after him or anything. Henry, what Neal did wasn't right but he's got his own life now. He left both of us a long time ago. I know it's disappointing when someone doesn't want you, I know how much it hurts. But I'm not going do that to you and your Mom, I'll never leave either of you -"

"I don't believe you!" Henry interrupted. "You gave me up when I was a baby and you were going to leave me last year too."

Emma was taken aback by his angry response. "What?" she whispered.

"You told me you were going to leave Storybrooke before I ate the poison apple turnover. You were going to leave me even though I needed you to stay and help me break the curse. You didn't believe me. I'm your son and you love me, so why would anything stop you leaving Mom? A-and if you leave then it'll break her heart and she'll go evil again."

Henry looked down sadly. "I guess that's ok, then it'll be just the two of us again. Mom and I can stick together because we're both bad and everyone hates us. Mom would never leave me."

Emma could feel her heart breaking while listening to Henry's worries about their family. This must be why he'd been acting up lately and had been clinging to Regina. He thought his birth mother was going to abandon them. He was worried that she was going to leave Regina heartbroken and send her back to her evil ways. But the worst part of all was how he talked about himself. He'd called himself "bad" and even though she'd heard the same thing from her own lips right throughout her childhood … she was devastated to hear it from her son.

When Henry had met his biological father for the first time he'd been thrilled, especially when Neal had come to Storybrooke supposedly to stay and spend time with his son. But all Neal had done was get Henry's hopes up and it seemed an extra cruelty to not say goodbye upon leaving.  _Had that been Tamara's influence?_ she wondered.  _Or was he still trying to get away from his father like he had been for centuries?_  Emma was intensely angry with Neal for disappointing Henry like this. She hadn't actually wanted to give her baby up and Henry was probably too young to really understand how hard that decision had been for her at the time. She'd hoped ever since his birth that her son would never have to feel unwanted like she had her entire life.

"Hey, kid. Listen to me. If you never believe anything else I ever say, believe this: you are not bad. There's nothing wrong with you ok? Even if you've done bad things or made a few mistakes - or a lot of them - it doesn't mean that  _you_  are bad. Your Mom and I both love you no matter what. I'm not leaving you guys. I didn't know much about family when I got here but I'm learning. Family doesn't leave family behind and that's exactly what the three of us are. You brought me here, kiddo, you're stuck with me."

"Please don't leave," said Henry. "Even if you think it's best for me? Because it's not. You have to promise that whatever happens, whatever you find out about me… don't leave us?"

"I won't. Come here," sighed Emma. She leaned over to put her arm around his shoulders and drew him into a side hug. She kissed the top of his head and then rested her chin there. "Don't worry about your Mom ok? She's strong. We've got her now. The dark side can't have her back without a fight."

* * *

_108 Mifflin St, later that evening_

After organising Em's discharge from the hospital that afternoon, Astrid brought the girls home and then drove Emma's car back to its usual parking space in Main Street leaving no-one the wiser.

Em was lying longways on the couch in the den staring at the TV screen but she wasn't playing the video game. It was paused while Henry was upstairs brushing his teeth. Emma was out in the dining room working as she had been since dinner and Ri was somewhere else as well. Em was feeling alright physically despite the car accident but mentally was another story.

Em's headache had abated somewhat but a dull throb still ached in her temples. She'd taken an aspirin automatically and then kicked herself when she realised what she'd done. She'd gotten out her phone to google whether it was safe to take the drug during early pregnancy but the search results had turned up all sorts of scary information that she didn't understand and all it did was freak her out further.  _He's only the size of a poppyseed and I'm already making the wrong choices for him?_

She was sad and noticeably withdrawn but she didn't have the energy to act like her normal self. She realised with new sympathy that Emma probably didn't have anyone with her when she found out the news. Ri had been fussing over her ever since they left the hospital and Em was so numb that she just let her. Usually it fell to her to be the strong one, the protector, and she loved fulfilling that role in their relationship, but right now she really needed to be taken care of. She shouldn't have been surprised by it, but despite often being naive or scared Ri always managed to step up whenever anyone gave her the chance. It seemed that hardly anyone ever did though.

Ri still didn't know the truth.

Em felt the uncomfortable feeling of guilt nagging at her mind again and not just because she'd crashed the car today with her girlfriend in it and they could've been hurt much worse - all three of them. She also hadn't told Ri that she was pregnant with the baby who would be their son one day.

_I can't tell her yet. She can't know in case I decide not to give him up. If I keep him I'll never have to be alone again. Could I do it? Maybe I could keep him and still come to Storybrooke later to break the curse. We could all be together then, nothing else would change would it? But I won't remember when I go back, Emma didn't. She only found out that she was pregnant after she was in jail, she didn't know anything about this place until Henry brought her here. I just have to remember the plan: keep the baby, come to Storybrooke. But then Regina would be the one who was alone and without having a reason and the chance to change she'd still be the Evil Queen when I got here wouldn't she? No, I can't do that to her. I won't be able to take good care of him anyway. She'll be crushed if I don't give him up. She wants him so badly._

_But I want him too._

"Em, I'm coming! Don't start without me." Henry ran into the room at full pelt and plopped breathlessly on the floor in front of the couch. "Did you play the next level?"

"Nah. It's on pause waiting for you."

"Cool!"

Em found herself studying him like it was the first time she was really seeing him. Henry had changed into his dark blue pyjamas, sitting on the carpet cross-legged as he focused on the game and gripped the controller in his hands. The little pink tip of his tongue poked out the corner of his mouth while he concentrated. Who else did that? He smelled fresh after his bath and minty like toothpaste and his dark brown hair was still damp and curling around his perfect little ears.  _Whose hair colour is that I wonder? That's not mine. He's so beautiful, how did I never notice before? He's pale and a bit scrawny like me. I think he has my eyes. But when I look at him all I see is… her._

"Hey Em, are you okay?" Henry turned around to look at her with that lopsided tilt to the head.

"Yeah. Um, how was school today?"

"Not very good," Henry admitted. "My Moms got called to the principal's office. I nearly got expelled."

_Ha, that's so me! You are a chip off the old block aren't you. I can't count how many times I got suspended or kicked out of school._ Henry was such a well-mannered, well-behaved kid though - unlike her. That was definitely Regina's influence on him. He was smart and healthy and safe because of growing up in her care.  _Would he be the same if I raised him? I doubt it. I don't want him to end up like me. I want him to have everything I never had. I want him to have a home._

"What'd you do. Use black pen instead of blue?"

"No. I did something bad to another boy, but he's the biggest bully there is. Ethan kissed Jenna and made her cry, he does it to all the girls. I tried to stop him but I had to use magic. Everyone at school knows and now they're afraid of me. Last year they all made fun of me because I still believed in fairytales like a little kid but now everyone's found out they're really from Fairytale Land and I'm the only one who wasn't. Nobody will talk to me anymore."

Suddenly Em felt her anger burst into flames, like she wanted to shake some sense into these other kids. What the hell was wrong with them! How could they not see how awesome Henry was? Why didn't they want to be his friend? He was a fun cool little guy to be around. How could anyone not love him once they got to know him?

"Is that why you've been deliberately missing the schoolbus lately?"

"I guess so. The other kids are calling me the Half Blood Prince. Because my Mom's the Evil Queen."

Em burst out a laugh before she could stop herself.

Henry frowned crossly. "It's not funny!"

"Yeah sorry, kid." Em snorted. "It's not funny at all… it's hilarious. You look like you could be Harry Potter instead, especially when you're playing with your chem set like a nerd. How'd you get to be so smart, huh?"

Henry peered at her for a minute, like he was trying to size her up. "If I tell you something will you promise not to tell my Moms? You can keep a secret from everybody can't you?"

"You have no idea."

Henry leaned over to whisper with his hand cupped around his mouth. "It was me. I'm the one who brought you and Ri here. I made all of this happen. Everything."

Em smiled, though her heart wasn't fully in it.

"You still kinda look sad, Em. Can I give you a hug?"

Henry climbed onto the lounge in front of her and wrapped his bony little arms around her tightly. That was it. It was over. Em nearly started to cry, knowing that he'd won her heart and she'd be powerless against him forever after this.  _I can't believe how much I love him already. I don't ever want to let him go. But I have to. I have to give him his best chance. It's not with me._

"I like having you guys here," Henry mumbled into her shoulder. "It's like having friends. Even though you're gonna be my parents one day and you boss me around and tell me what to do. I'm glad I brought you here so we could help my Moms get together."

"You did good, kid," Em said softly, reveling in the feel of having her son in her arms. "Those two need as much help as they can get. And you know what else? The Half Blood Prince wasn't really bad. It turned out that he was kind of a hero. His true loyalties were in the right place. Everything he did was because of love."

Henry sat up and gave her a thousand-watt smile of wonder. "Brilliant! I knew you'd get it, Em."

"Henry," Ri called from the doorway. "Time for bed, it's 8.30. You have school tomorrow."

The boy started to whine in protest. "But Em isn't going-"

"Yes, she is going to bed now too. She's very tired, darling. Go on upstairs. I'll be up in a minute to say goodnight and tuck you in."

"Bye, Em." Henry gave her a little wave.

Ri watched Henry sigh heavily and then take his time going upstairs, dragging his feet like he was hoping she'd have time to change her mind and rescind the bedtime order. Once he was finally gone, she smiled to herself and came over to kneel in front of Em.

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" said Ri, brushing her hair back. "Why don't you go up to bed too and wait for me. Do you think you'll sleep better alone tonight or do you want to cuddle?"

Em sighed. "Yes please. I want cuddles, definitely."

* * *

Less than half an hour after she'd sent the others to bed so that she could tidy up, Ri herself headed upstairs. She knew that Em would almost certainly have waited up for her no matter how tired she was. She slipped into the bed in the dark and whispered, "Are you warm enough?"

"I am now." Em rolled over and wrapped an arm and a leg around Ri so they could snuggle together.

"Emma and Regina are still talking downstairs. Well, mostly they're kissing and making up. Do you think we should've told them about what happened today? Or your parents?"

"You can't tell them about the car accident, Ri. Adults always freak out over that kind of stuff. Remember what happened the last time we ran away?"

"Yes, I do. They were very upset with us. Everyone ended up hurt over it."

_Everyone meaning 'especially you and me'_ , thought Em, as she remembered how after she and Ri had been caught making out at the B&B they'd started to fight with each other over little things like misunderstandings and big things like their son. Em placed a kiss on the curve of Ri's neck near where the plait of her hair began but pulled back straight away.  _Does Ri always smell like this? It's so sickly sweet that I almost can't stand it. Did I just not notice before or is it some weirdo pregnancy thing. Oh god what is happening to me. How can I be turned off right now. I love her more than life itself and she's the girl of my dreams. What if she can't wait for me to figure out my shit and be normal again?_

"I was scared today," said Ri. "I'm so glad you weren't hurt badly. For a second there I thought I might- No. I can't lose you, Em. You mean too much to me."

"It could've been more than just me that was hurt." Em sighed. "I don't want to lose you either. I'm sorry, Ri. I know I'm not responsible. I promise I won't talk you into any more dumb ideas. No more risks. I have to grow up."

"Please don't remonstrate yourself over it. Everything turned out ok."

Em was silent for a little while, trying to take Ri's words to heart and alleviate the guilt she felt. But it wasn't working too well. She felt like she'd failed to protect her family today and swore that it would not happen again. Every decision she made from here on out would be to protect and cherish the tiny little life she was growing. Everything else paled in comparison now, everything else seemed trivial. Nothing else mattered to her now… except Ri and Henry.

_I should tell her. But technically she isn't supposed to know. Regina never knew a thing about it until she adopted the kid. What if it ruins something in the future? What if it affects Henry? Who knows what could happen. I can't keep the secret forever though. Unless we go back soon she's going to find out anyway. She's kinda naive but I don't think she'll miss the fact that I'm going to turn into a beachball. She knows something's up with me. I should tell her now. If I let it go on too long she'll wonder why. No, I can't. What if it changes everything between us? What if she doesn't want-_

"Oh my goodness Henry was hard to settle down tonight!" said Ri. "I blame you, Em, for getting him all excited playing the game before bed."

"Sorry," mumbled Em.

Ri's tone turned gentle. "Oh I was only teasing. It's lovely to see you two together and getting along now. I'd feel a little left out if I wasn't so happy about it. He worships the ground you walk on, you know."

Em made a noise of disbelief. "Dunno why. You're the one who's going to be his Mom."

"You're his mother too," said Ri, sounding confused.

"But you're good at being a Mom already. How do you know what to do? I don't even know what it's like to have a good Mom let alone be one. You remember what's good for him. I'm the one who gives him chocolate before dinner and hypes him up at bedtime. He doesn't need me."

"Are you ok, Em? You sound downcast. You'd tell me if there was something wrong wouldn't you?"

Em bit her lip and closed her eyes before replying. "Just let me hold you. You know I love you don't you?"

"Yes. You show me everyday."

"That's because everyday I fall a little more in love with you. Just when I think my heart's full there's room for more."

"You're right." Ri sighed sleepily. "That's how it feels for me too. Even more so now. Today was a very special day for me, Em. It feels like the whole world has changed."

"Me too," whispered Em. "You have no idea how much."


	43. Home

_108 Mifflin St_

When Regina walked in the door late that evening she met with a warm house, a pile of dirty dishes on the sink, and loud explosions coming from the TV in the den. The kids barely raised their eyes from their video game to greet her when she looked in on them. She had a stack of work with her so she went to take it into the dining room where she intended to keep working, but apparently someone had already beaten her to that idea.

Emma was sitting at the table buried in a pile of paperwork, probably the files Regina had "dropped off" earlier that day. She must've been at it for a while judging by the way she was pressing her eyes with one of her fists.

"Hey." Emma gave her a small smile in greeting when she looked up.

Regina went to kiss her hello but she hesitated for a split second, wondering whether she should or not. It was long enough to be noticeable. Seeing that Emma looked disappointed before covering it up, she cursed herself inwardly for it. Though Emma did look like she'd calmed down since their earlier argument, Regina wasn't sure if they were still fighting.

"I uh, cooked dinner," Emma was saying. "It's not, you know, gourmet or anything though so eat at your own risk."

"I hadn't even thought of dinner. I appreciate it, Emma. Have you talked to Henry yet?"

"Yeah, but we didn't really talk about the magic stuff. He's alright now I think. He told me why he didn't want us to be together."

"He actually told you? Why."

"Remember how you thought it was because he was trying to protect me? It wasn't that. It turns out he was attached to the idea of his parents being together, but he was thinking of you and me, not me and Neal. It's not that he didn't want us to be together, he just didn't want us to break up. He was worried that I was going to leave you and run off with Neal, that I would break your heart and you'd turn evil again. He was trying to protect you, Regina. From me."

Regina sighed and closed her eyes. "He shouldn't have to worry about things like that. He shouldn't have to be afraid of what I might do."

"Hey," said Emma softly. "Don't be too hard on yourself ok? Being hard on you is my job, I'll tell you when you're screwing up ... and when you're not."

"Thanks, dear. Perhaps that is one reason why we're together. With all of our issues and problems there's only just enough between us to make one good mother." Regina was only half being facetious when she said it.

"We'd better stick together then huh." Emma smiled shakily. "The kid's ok. I mean, we've kept him alive this long so the rest should be a breeze. He's half cooked already."

"He's not an egg. The worst isn't over yet. Did you forget that he'll be a teenager soon? It'll be like the terrible twos except he'll be big enough to yell at us that he hates us and run away. With the car."

"Well, at least we'll be together through those horrible trying times. He won't get far, I can find anyone I'm looking for. Besides, we're getting plenty of practice at keeping a couple of teenagers under control. There's no way Henry can cause as much trouble as those two. At least, I hope not."

There was a beat of silence as they shared a smile until they both started talking again at once.

"Regina, we should really-"

"Emma, can we-"

They both paused, waiting for the other to speak. Emma laughed in relief to break the awkwardness. "Can we talk?"

Regina nodded. "Yes. Later?"

"Yeah. Dinner's in the fridge, if you're hungry."

She wasn't hungry but Regina put down her files and left the dining room for a few minutes to heat up her meal anyway. Chicken-something and surprisingly, green vegetables. While she waited for the microwave, she remembered humouring a seven-year-old Henry and his eggshelly cupcakes and vowed to herself that she'd eat whatever Emma had cooked tonight no matter how it tasted. She'd been stuck at work in a meeting that ran way over time and she'd completely forgotten about having to get dinner for the kids. They would've been climbing the walls by now if they'd had to wait for her.

When she came back and sat down to her plate of steaming food, she saw Emma rubbing her eyes again.

"Take out your contacts if your eyes are tired," said Regina. "Did you leave your glasses at your mother's? I'll summon them magically for you if you want."

"I don't need contacts or glasses anymore. Got my eyes lasered when I was 21. They get a bit dry ever since."

"Oh, I just assumed because of Em. I've never seen you wear any." Regina also wondered how a young Emma had afforded laser eye surgery at that age but she wasn't going to ask since the disparity in their wealth was already too apparent.

"Neal left me ten grand in the Bug," said Emma, answering the unasked question. "Found it when I got out of jail. He fenced the watches I got caught stealing for him so I considered the money mine to do whatever I liked with. Glasses are a pain in the ass and I'd been wearing them since I was little so it was money well-spent. I kept losing the stupid things or having them broken by foster siblings. That's why Em's wearing those ugly drugstore ones. Apparently they're some sort of ironic fashion statement now, but I was wearing them before they were cool."

"But you would have kept Henry if you'd known about the money?"

Emma shook her head. "But then this place would still be cursed, I wouldn't have found my parents, I wouldn't have met you, I'd still be blind as a bat… and I definitely wouldn't have seen you naked."

"Did you just put a price on the rights to my naked body?"

"Ten grand would be a bargain for you. I doubt whether all the camels in Egypt would be enough to pay your dowry, which is good because I'm all out of camels."

Regina rolled her eyes and took her first bite of food. It did taste fine and judging by the stupid jokes the real Emma was back. Her relief on both counts must've been too obvious.

"It's not poisoned you know," Emma said. "I  _can_  cook some things. Basic stuff to keep myself alive and healthy. Poison not included."

"You don't have the patience or subtly for poison. I'll know if you try to kill me one day because I'll see it coming."

* * *

It was getting late and they were both still working but Emma was over it. She'd spent most of the last half hour staring into space or at Regina, thinking about what she could do to mend things between them. David and Em were right. She hadn't been ready to take the big step of moving in together and she knew she was acting out because of it, but then again maybe she never would be ready if left to her own devices. Maybe all there was to do was try to get through it. She hadn't meant for Regina to bear the brunt of her inability to deal with it though.

She hadn't expected Regina to be so forgiving about her behaviour though. Sure they'd tiffed and argued every day but not once had Regina demanded she leave or indicated in any way that she wanted her gone. Emma had been acting like she had at some of her former foster homes and without being able to use youth as an excuse. But Regina had provided the security that allowed Emma to work out what she was feeling without worrying that she was going to be punished for it.

_She must really love me_ , realised Emma.  _Not just the idea of me. Not because I'm Henry's mother. Not because I save her. Not because we have great sex. She loves_ _me_ _. How amazing._

"So um," Emma bit her lips together and tapped her pen on the page. "Are we still fighting?"

Regina kept her eyes on her paperwork. "I'm still mad at you for being an obnoxious brat if that's what you mean."

"Well, I'm still mad at you for ignoring my phone calls."

Emma decided to go for a little more honesty and softened her tone to confess. "It worries me when I can't reach you. Sometimes I think I'm going to find out that they've taken you to the stocks or something. I get afraid that one day I'll be too late to get to you."

Regina looked up and nodded solemnly. "I apologise for throwing the files at you."

"S'alright. Only took three hours to put them all back in the right folders."

Emma smiled and it only grew when she saw Regina crack a small smile as well.

"Hey, so um..." Emma took a breath. "About what happened today with Gander… are you ok? I mean, we're not exactly out and you haven't done this before. I know how crap it is the first time you have to face homophobic bullshit when things are still new and confusing. I'm especially sorry it happened when we were fighting as well. We're ok right?"

"Yes, and I am fine. I'm used to being hated."

"That's not a good thing. We shouldn't have to get used to it. But still, it's out there in the world."

"It didn't surprise me, given what I know of her. I don't care about her opinion. I suppose I would feel differently if I had family here who disapproved… well, I can only imagine what my mother would've said."

"I used to think sometimes that I was lucky for having no family to lose over it. Now I've got more family members than I know what to do with."

Regina brought up the topic that had been plaguing them all week. "Em was telling me that you're not dealing well with moving in here. You obviously know I heard you talking to David. It's okay, Emma, but you could've told me. I do understand what it's like. If you're not ready, you're not ready."

"No, maybe I'm not but-" Emma sighed heavily. "I think if we wait until I think I'm ready we could be moving into a nursing home together when we're in our nineties."

"If it does take that long I'm making a mental note now to run over your foot with my walking frame."

It was meant as a light joke but Emma took it as evidence that Regina was thinking about their relationship in the long term. For the first time in her life, someone not only expected her to be around but wanted her to be.

"It's… weird," said Emma slowly. "It's like the more I feel like I want to run away, the more I know I want to be here. I'm not used to having a home yet, but I'm not going anywhere. I'm tired of running, I want to collapse across the finish line with you. I guess you didn't know that though. I know I've been pissing you off a lot. Em told me to cut it out. She says that I've been testing you on purpose. I didn't even realise I was doing it. We should learn to talk more with each other instead of using the girls to translate when we don't know what the other's feeling. I don't know how to have a proper relationship with anyone, I'm gonna keep screwing up until I get it right. But I will keep trying. I'm sorry for all of it, Regina. Can't believe you put up with me."

"You have your moments."

Emma leaned her face into her hand wearily. "Why does everything have to come back to parental abandonment with me? I just want to get over it. I'm fine now, but I keep reacting in the same way. My mind automatically goes there."

"You're not the only one with issues here. Every relationship I've ever had has ended in death. This isn't easy for me either."

"Oh god, you're right," Emma realised. "Hey, I'm not gonna disappear on you if you turn your back ok? I'm here, right where I want to be."

Their hands instinctively snaked across the table towards each other and held.

It was Regina's turn to make a quiet confession. "When I nearly lost Henry this year, everything in the house reminded me that he was gone. I missed him constantly and there were reminders of him everywhere I looked. But it felt right to miss someone I love so dearly. When I lost Daniel I had none of his things and no claim on him or his name despite what we were to each other. No-one knew what I was going through or came to give condolences. I couldn't grieve publicly in any way, I had to perform, and it felt wrong that someone so loved and precious could disappear from the world without anyone noticing but me."

Emma had never heard her speak about Daniel in such detail, Regina hardly ever even mentioned his name without looking pained. She knew it must've taken an enormous amount of trust for her to lay open her deepest wounds like that. It was another one of those moments, when Emma didn't know if she could possibly love her more.

"When I look at my home I want to be reminded of your being in my life. I miss you when you're not here. I want your things around to remind me that you still exist. It's your home now too."

Emma had never understood the expression 'home is where the heart is' but now she hoped that the perpetual homesickness she'd felt all her life would finally go away. Maybe love (the real deep lasting kind) was more than grand gestures, I-love-you's, and mind-blowing sex. Maybe it was the quiet strength of patience that was found in little things, in simply being there for one another and loving even the worst version of each other.

Love was the place where you could be yourself. It was home.

"Emma. In case you don't know - in case I don't tell you enough - I want you here with me. I want you to stay. This is what I should've done when I walked in, this is what I wanted to do."

Regina leaned over the table on one hand and with the other she tipped Emma's chin up for a soft kiss.

"If you're trying to seduce me," said Emma breathily. "It is  _so_  working."

"That is my ongoing plan, yes."

When Emma reached for her to pull her down into her lap Regina put her index finger to her lips. "Ahh no. After the little stunt you pulled at my office today, it's my turn. You should know better than to start something you can't finish."

"If I remember correctly I finished you off pretty well."

The kiss heated up until Ri appeared in the doorway, blushing prettily at the scene she'd walked in on when they turned to look at her.

"Oh! Sorry to interrupt you two. Henry's asleep, I sent him to bed at 8.30. I made sure he brushed his teeth first. His homework and backpack are ready for tomorrow. I loaded the dishes into the cleaning drawer but you should check I did it right before you press play. Em's gone to bed already because she was really tired, poor baby. I'm going to bed now too, I just came to say goodnight…Oh and Emma, a little hint?"

"Yeah?"

"She likes it when your hair falls over her bare skin. It tickles and feels so nice. Have a good night." Ri smiled, turned and left as quick as she'd come.

The second she was gone Emma shot Regina a curious look. " _I_  do that. That's my thing I do. That's the thing you like when we're y'know. How does she know that?"

"I didn't tell her."

"Hmm."

"What do you mean 'hmm'. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking…" Emma grinned. "That the girls sleep in the same bed and spend a lot of time together unsupervised. That they're teenagers who are madly in love. Basically I'm thinking that my younger self is a stud. Just like me."

Regina was not impressed. "Really? You couldn't think of any non bovine-related term to profess your sexual prowess? I don't want to know what you think that makes me."

"Admit it. You've fallen for me twice. I am that good."

"I'm failing to see why right now."

"Come on, Regina, tell me. When we were that age would you have given your virginity to me?"

Regina smiled wistfully for a while. "It would've been nice if it had happened that way."

"Well." Emma took the corner of the manila folder in front of her and flipped it closed. "I think we've just found our theme for tonight's role-play."

But in the end they didn't get to have sex that night (themed or otherwise) because Emma fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Regina didn't mind though, she took it to mean that Emma was finally starting to feel comfortable there after a week's worth of moving anxiety and getting on each other's nerves. She too fell asleep shortly afterwards and when she woke up early that morning, like many times since they'd started sleeping together, she was wearing an Emma-shaped starfish on her back.

Regina rolled her sleepy companion over and pushed up Emma's pyjama top so that she could kiss her bare torso.

When Emma woke she couldn't tell if she was still in her dream state or not but realising that the pleasure was real brought her fully awake with a smile.

"You're putting the good in good morning."

"I'd like to repay my debt, but only if you can be quick and quiet," said Regina.

"Yes," Emma breathed.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, dear."

"Oh god, Regina, that's- Ohhh-" Whatever Emma was going to say was lost in a moan.

Regina reached up for both of Emma's hands and laced their fingers together. Never one to be outdone, she intended to keep going until everything between them was settled fair and square. It wasn't long before Emma's hands were grasping hers tightly and she smiled to herself, not at all disappointed that only  _one_  of the promises was made good.

* * *

The next day when Regina woke she was in bed alone, but the sound of the shower running in the en suite bathroom told her where Emma was. She got out of bed and hadn't taken three steps before she tripped over one of Emma's running shoes, apparently discarded in the middle of the floor with the rest of her workout wear. Regina stumbled and cursed under her breath. She tossed the clothes in the hamper and then put the shoes in the wardrobe, where she'd recently made space for Emma's clothing (not that her things took up much of the allotted space, she had so few of everything).

In the bathroom, Regina knocked and called to the blurry figure that was just visible through the frosted shower door.

"Emma Swan!"

Emma let out a shriek of surprise. "Ahh! What?"

"I only just cured Henry out of leaving his shoes all over the place. If I have to trip over those ratty old sneakers one more time I'm going to throw them out."

"No! They're still good."

"Fine, I won't. But I'm informing you that they look like Miss Lucas has been using them as a chew toy."

Emma cracked open the shower door to give her a look and Regina could just see one half of the outline of her lithe naked form through the gap between the frosted glass. Her blonde hair was wet and plastered to her back. Emma's body might've been squeaky clean but the look in her eye was dirty after catching Regina's gaze as it traveled down and up.

"Like what you see? I do," said Emma, returning the favour and adding a lascivious raise of the eyebrows for effect.

Regina gave a slight shrug, gaze still fixed on the near-naked form. "We have multiple spare rooms in the house, if you want to convert one to a gym I have no objection."

"Really? You'd give me a room in your house and let me do whatever I want to it? I hope you're serious because I might take you up on that. Ha, is this so you can 'accidentally' come in and check me out when I'm working out? Or do you actually want to exercise too."

"Hardly. We already exercise together," said Regina wryly.

"How much do you weigh? Want to see if I can bench you?"

"As I recall it was I who benched you, dear, and afterwards you could barely walk in a straight line. You had bruises the next day to prove it. You're so delicate sometimes."

Emma flicked some water at her and the droplets bled through Regina's satin nightgown. It was Regina's turn to give her a look.

"Stop that. You're getting me wet."

Emma laughed. "Oh, too easy! I'm not even going to touch that set-up."

"You know what I meant."

"Hey, you wanna join me in the hot steamy shower, Regina? You're already wet so you might as well. It'll save us water and time."

"It certainly won't. We don't have time for that. I'm going downstairs to make breakfast for Henry before school. What would you like?"

"What can I have?" said Emma saucily.

Regina returned in kind. "What do you want?"

"Chocolate souffle."

"You can have eggs, toast, or there's oatmeal. Juice, fruit..."

"Froot loops?"

"I'd rather you didn't. Otherwise Henry will want them too and he's not allowed sugary things, except on weekends."

Emma grimaced. "This is one of those parenting things isn't it. Being responsible and setting a good example? Do I have to give up everything fun?"

"No," Regina pursed her lips into a smile. "You just need to learn to hide your vices better. If you're good I might show you my secret stash that Henry knows nothing about."

"I knew it! I've fallen for a bad girl. That's your big vice, Regina? Contraband chocolate? That's soooo evil I don't know how you can possibly live with yourself."

"Hurry up in there, you're going to be late for work." Regina tossed the comment over her shoulder on her way out.

"Hey, Regina?" Emma called out after her, voice echoing off the bathroom walls. "You might wanna hide your stash better next time! I already found it."

Five minutes later, Emma turned off the shower and toweled herself dry. She had just finished wrapping one towel around her body and a second one around her hair when Regina came in again. She had a cold glare on her face and was holding a fistful of empty confectionery wrappers.

"Why is my imported Belgian noir chocolate gone?" said Regina. "Explain. Or you are dead to me."

"Um, what's yours is mine?" joked Emma.

"Try again."

"You look gorgeous in that silky thing."

"Hm, try harder."

"I love you?"

"Still not enough."

"How about this?" Emma smiled and leaned in to kiss her. The foil wrappers crinkled when Regina dropped them to the floor and she felt a pair of hands cradle the sides of her face.

"You kiss my Mom like that?" They both turned around at the surprised boy's voice.

Emma grabbed the towel where it was cinched around the top of her breasts to secure it. She definitely wasn't used to this particular aspect of motherhood yet, the way kids just walked in on Mommy whenever they felt like it to see what she was doing. Regina didn't seem to care though, but she'd had a ten year head start and was no doubt well-used to it. Henry barely noticed the fact that Emma was half-naked, though she supposed he was nearly at the age when he would start to get embarrassed by things like that.

Despite the fact that she and Regina had been together for a while they'd kept the physical side of it away from Henry while it was still new. He hadn't seen them kiss before.

"Um yeah, kid," said Emma, trying not to be awkward about it. "Your Mom's a pretty lady. I love her and it's fun to kiss her."

"Why are there chocolate wrappers on the floor?" said Henry.

"Nevermind," said Regina, grabbing her robe from the hook on the wall. She looked down towards Henry's socked feet and frowned. "Henry, are those your newest school pants?"

"Yep."

"They're much too short. I'll have to take you to get new ones."

Emma pouted. "You are growing like a weed, kid. I remember when I met you last year you were so little."

Henry protested. "No, I wasn't! I would've been big compared to when you last saw me."

"Aw kid, I didn't see you much when you were a baby."

"How come? Didn't you want to?"

Emma glanced at Regina and then smiled at Henry. "I didn't look because I knew that I'd fall in love with you at first sight. And I did. I bet your Mom did too."

Henry turned to Regina. "Did you, Mom?"

"Yes," said Regina. "You wiggled your way into my heart."

Emma reached out to mess the boy's hair and straight away Regina smoothed it back down. Henry shooed both of their attempts away.

"Let's go downstairs for breakfast so that Emma can finish getting dressed," said Regina.

"Ok. Oh wait!" Henry held out Emma's phone. "Grandma called for you. I said you were in the shower with Mom and that you'd call her back."

"Who the hell is Grandma?" It took Emma a second to realise who he meant. "Oh right, yeah. Mary Margaret. What'd she want?"

"She said 'Don't forget about Friday night'," said Henry.

"Crap! I completely forgot. How do mothers know these things?"

"What's on Friday night," asked Regina.

"You're not going to like it. But I already said yes for both of us so… we're going. End of story."


	44. Friends

"Emma, no," Regina said in the closest tone she ever got to a whine. She had her hands on her hips, watching Emma search through the wardrobe for something to wear that evening.

"It's Friday night, it's Kathryn's birthday, it's drinks with a few people who you already know. You have to get used to us going out in public together as a couple and this is an appropriate baby step in that direction. It'll be fine. You're coming, Regina."

"I don't think so. Do have a fun night out, dear."

"Oh no way. If I have to go, you do too. Accompanying me to social events I get roped into falls under the job description of 'girlfriend' and that's you. Mary Margaret caught me unawares a few weeks ago and somehow I agreed to go, so now you have to come too."

"We've been over this. I do not concede to do anything that will make  _her_  happy."

"What about Kathryn then?" Emma tried to catch Regina's eye off the floor. "Huh? Isn't she your friend? Pretty sure spending time with friends is what makes it a birthday celebration."

"I doubt that it will be happy for her if I'm there. We're not friends."

"You were last year."

Regina crossed her arms to fill the pause and then admitted one of the reasons for her reluctance. "She hasn't spoken to me since the curse broke."

"Ok. So, she might not be talking to you but have you tried calling her?"

"Of course not."

"Why?"

"Are your Charming genes expressing themselves right now or are you being dense on purpose?"

"The first one, I think. Tell me why you haven't talked to her."

"Because!" Regina let her arms flap out in exasperation. "I just haven't. And I'm not going to impose on her tonight, her birthday of all days, the first time I will have seen her since the curse broke.  _My_  curse in case you've forgotten, after which I was under house arrest and then I was accused of the one murder I wasn't actually responsible for. She knows who I really am now. She must know that I was behind her disappearance. I was the one who took away her happy ending and had her married to a man who could never love her-"

"The same thing that happened to you, you mean?"

"Yes! If you insist on making comparisons."

"Sounds like you've got some common ground then, that's a good start for a friendship. You recognise that your actions hurt her so all you gotta do is apologise. The curse screwed up a lot of relationships, but she's even patched things up with Mary Margaret and David now so how bad can it be? It might be awkward at first but it's going to be fine."

"It is not fine," insisted Regina. "Just because you say it with such conviction doesn't mean it's true."

"That's exactly what makes it true. But it never will be unless you do something about it. You've got an election coming up, think of it as practice. Win her vote. Just say to her: 'Sorry for temporarily ruining your life, how's it working out with that hunky gym teacher you're dating now?' Don't even bother giving me that evil glare, Regina, I'm immune now. I know how sweet you can be."

"I am not sweet. I've ruined the lives of untold millions."

"Yes, I know. Tales of your badassery have not been exaggerated. But Kathryn's really nice! She's not going to bite you. If you're good  _I_  might bite you. Later. There's some motivation for you."

Emma pecked Regina's cheek and walked out of the wardrobe to get dressed.

Regina started flicking through the hangers on her side, looking for something to wear. How was it that she had so many clothes and yet there was nothing that felt right for whatever was going to happen tonight? She didn't own any girly-glittery-shimmery party dresses because she never went out, she'd been working and raising a child for ten years in a town full of people who hated her. What exactly was one supposed to wear when invited somewhere as Emma's Girlfriend? She didn't want to wear anything too Evil Queen-ish, yet everything else was -

Emma called out to her from the bedroom. "You do realise that you are literally standing in a closet right now, Regina? Hurry up, time to come out. I'll look after you I promise."

Regina grumbled under her breath. "You are so annoying. I hate you."

"I heard that. Love you too!"

* * *

_Outside the White Rabbit_

After a small disagreement about who was going to drive and who was going to drink (Regina had tried to say that she was going to do neither since she was still resisting coming at all), the two of them had parked in Main street and were walking towards the bar.

Emma was wearing a dress, the only one she owned in fact. She had purchased it on a whim for her last birthday and only now remembered that that was the last time she'd worn it. This was the first time Regina had seen her in a dress of any kind, let alone a skin-tight red knockout that literally stopped traffic, and the stunned look she got for it made Emma far less annoyed that the only matching shoes she had were ridiculously uncomfortable to walk in. Just a little enticement/reward for Regina to get her out the door.

_Not the stupidest thing I've ever done to get her attention_ , thought Emma wryly.  _We've been together for a while now and I'm still doing things like this on the off chance that she might notice and kiss me for it._   _Damn, why didn't I think to contrive a reason to wear this for her last year!_

It was getting cold and she wrapped her black leather jacket tighter around herself. She snuck a peek at a tense-looking Regina and then slipped her hand into the pocket of her girlfriend's coat to take her hand.

"If you're really not ok with this you don't have to," said Emma.

Regina gave her an exasperated look. "You're only saying that because we're almost there."

"Look at that, we are too. We might as well go in."

"This is a terrible idea," said Regina, shaking her head. "I should be at home taking care of Henry."

"Relax, he'll be fine without us for a few hours. The girls have taken care of him before. Technically he is still with his parents you know."

"I asked Mrs Lucas to go over there at six to bring dinner and to check on them."

"See! It's all under control. It might actually be good for Henry to see us go out for once."

"How's that?"

"He doesn't have any friends. Kids emulate their parents don't they? Maybe if he sees that we're capable of acting like normal social creatures instead of like the screw-ups we really are then he'll get the idea that having friends is a good thing."

Regina stopped just outside the door to the bar to give Emma a searching look. She was also wearing a dress underneath her buttoned-up coat but it was far more demure than Emma's. Before they left the house their teenage selves had made a point of critiquing their attire. Ri approved their choices and Em predicted that both dresses would be laying on the bedroom floor by midnight. Henry took Emma aside to instruct her very earnestly to take care of his Mom because she was a target now and  _"everyone knows weird stuff happens when The White Rabbit appears..._ "

That kid definitely needed to get out more. So did his mother.

Regina was still staring at her. "What," said Emma self-consciously, wondering if she'd said something wrong. She was new to this parenting thing after all.

"You are so-" Regina sighed and closed her eyes for a second. "Sometimes I'm reminded why I fell in love with you."

"Declarations of how awesome I am are not getting you out of this."

"I take it back then."

"No, you don't. I know who you truly love."

Regina handed Emma the gift bag. "Here, you take the present."

Emma took the bag and then reached for the door. "Shall we go in, my gorgeous yet somewhat curmudgeonly Queen?"

"You would do well to remember the Queen part more often."

"After you."

"Still hanging onto your misplaced chivalry, Emma?"

"Nope. Just making sure you're not going to escape."

* * *

_Inside the White Rabbit_

"Ashley, how bad can she be?" said Ruby. "She's a little old lady."

"She is a nightmare I'm telling you!" said Ashley. "Every single day she comes over to see Alexie and she finds faults with absolutely everything I do. I don't use the right diaper brand and I don't puree the vegetables from scratch and I should've breastfed for longer and I don't dress my daughter in smart enough clothes … it just goes on and on. Sean doesn't see it because he's always at work and I'm stuck at home with her and the baby all day. She's driving me crazy!"

"Oh Ash," said Mary Margaret. "Maybe she's just lonely? Now that your stepsisters have moved out?"

"Maybe. You know Stacy and Diana don't even go over there anymore? Their mother had a hip replacement operation and I'm the one going over to that oversized house of hers to clean and bring groceries and help her go to the doctor. They were too wrapped up in their own fabulous lives to notice that she needed help. Not that she wanted my help of course. She's told me a million times how I remind her of my father."

"That's what makes you a good person," said Mary Margaret. "Not everyone would be so giving in your situation."

"You've got a lot on your plate for a nineteen year old," said Kathryn. "I should be the one who's angry, it's my birthday and you're making me feel very old right now. I'm more than ten years older than you."

Ruby threw an arm around Ashley's neck. "Must be time for the next round. What do you want?"

Ashley giggled. "I want Mary Margaret to tell me the secret of getting rid of an Evil Stepmother!"

"What makes you think she was successful," said Regina flatly.

The girls stopped laughing immediately and all turned to stare at Emma and Regina, who had just arrived at the table. Ashley, Kathryn, Ruby, and Mary Margaret were seated around the booth. It wasn't half obvious what questions must've been buzzing in their minds:  _What is she doing here? Are they together? Is that a real Prada, I so want that in red. Am I in danger for my life?_

"Let me guess," said Mary Margaret with a twinkle in her eye. "You're here to kill me."

"Not today," said Regina.

"Er, hi guys," said Emma, trying not to laugh at how awkward it was. "Sorry we're late. Regina's fault."

Emma passed the gift bag over the table to Kathryn. "Happy Birthday, Kathryn."

"Thanks, you didn't have to do that." Kathryn pulled out of the bag an expensive bottle of wine and smiled at it, though puzzled. "This is my favourite. How did you know?"

"I didn't," said Emma, letting the implication hang, seeing as how Regina wasn't going to own up to it.

"Well, it's very thoughtful. Thankyou both. It's good to see you!"

Everyone shuffled around the booth to make room so that the two newcomers could sit down. Emma helped Regina off with her coat and then shucked her own jacket. Ruby quizzed Regina about something as soon as she sat down. Kathryn was still eyeing the couple with curiosity and shooting glances at Mary Margaret. Ashley, the youngest of the group, was brushing some stray sparkles off her shirt which said in glittering script  _'A pair of shoes can change your life..._ '

"Oh my, Emma, is that a dress?" Mary Margaret said with her hands on her cheeks. "Quick! Where's my phone. I need photographic proof to show your father. This might never happen again and he won't believe me otherwise."

"Very funny,  _Mom_ ," groused Emma.

"You do look hot, Emma," said Ruby. "Even if you have stolen my signature colour."

"I take full credit for producing you," said Mary Margaret. "I knew you were going to be the most beautiful baby ever as soon as you popped out."

Emma cringed. "Can't you wait until after I'm drunk to embarrass me with baby stories?"

Ashley's face lit up and she flapped her hand at Mary Margaret. "Oh oh oh. Do you remember? Emma and Alexie were due at the same time. How weird is this! They're like 28 years apart now."

"You're right!" said Mary Margaret. "Remember we talked about how they were going to grow up together and be best friends?"

"Yes! And if Alexie had've been a boy we were going to get them betrothed and have a little baby wedding?" Ashley and Mary Margaret collapsed into giggles.

Ruby shot Emma a sly look. "Who says Emma's suitor would have to be a boy? Maybe she and Alexie would've hit it off."

"I narrowly escaped an arranged marriage just in time then," joked Emma. "Lucky for the curse."

Ashley glared playfully. "No! The curse was awful. I was nine months pregnant that whole time. How would you like having a baby's head dropped down into your pelvis and sitting on your bladder for 28 years?"

"Yeah, that last part was no fun."

"Thankyou though, for what you did for us, Emma," said Ashley sincerely. "You really saved me that day. You were the first person who ever made me think I could actually do this and maybe I'm not a super Mom but I can't imagine my life without Alexie anymore. I love her so much. I can't believe I almost missed it all."

"I think I know what you mean."

Emma felt Regina take her hand under the table. She wanted to raise their hands and press a kiss to her knuckles but they hadn't talked about PDAs yet and whether it was ok for them to act like a couple in front of others. She didn't want to push Regina before she was ready, especially given the company and everything still being so new and the fact that she'd been reluctant to come at all. One of her favourite memories was when Regina had licked her in front of her parents… but there was a difference between riling up old enemies and being lovey dovey in public for all to see. They had each other, they had Henry, and that was enough for Emma.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Ashley. "I didn't mean to bring that up. Your baby and all..."

"No, it's ok." Emma shared a look with Regina. "I have my son back in my life now."

"You do?" said Ashley in surprise.

Ruby rolled her eyes at the girl. "Duh, Ashley, have you been inhaling too much dust? It's Regina's kid. She adopted him."

Ashley gaped for a second and stared at them, trying to work it out. "I heard about that. Are you two…?"

"Yes," said Regina impatiently.

"Oh."

"Yeah." Ruby scanned the cocktail menu. "They're lesbianing together."

Mary Margaret nearly choked on her drink and coughed. "Ruby, honestly!"

"What? I'll verbify the word if I want to. It's true. Besides, they look hot together. Woo."

Ashley squinted at the puzzle in her mind. "So Emma had a baby who was adopted by her mother's Evil Stepmother and now, ten years later, they're together and raising a son? The Saviour and the Evil Queen?"

"Yep," said Ruby, popping the last syllable. She raised her hand and gestured to the waiter.

"Isn't that romantic?" said Ashley. "Good and evil, light and dark, opposites attract. Why didn't we have a story like this before?"

"Um, we do," said Ruby, like it was obvious. "Romeo and Juliet. 'My only love sprung from my only hate' and all that torturous forbidden love stuff. That was a cool movie."

The schoolteacher in Mary Margaret wasn't convinced. "Romeo and Juliet was a story of hormone-driven chaos, a headlong rush towards doom as the teenagers fought off time to make their love last forever. It was also a tragedy if you recall."

Ruby shrugged. "Baby Emma and Little Regina are here to fulfill the crazy hormonal teenager aspect of it. Hopefully they'll sidestep the tragedy part."

"Who are you talking about?" asked Kathryn.

"Nevermind," Emma jumped in. "It's a long story."

"Actually that's the short part," said Ruby to Ashley and Kathryn. "Their teenage selves appeared in Storybrooke one day and they really hit it off. Love at first sight."

"Where are the girls tonight?" asked Mary Margaret.

"At home," said Emma.

"They're taking care of Henry," added Regina.

Ruby snorted. "Babysitting? That's the oldest one in the book. Something tells me Henry's going to bed very early tonight."

Emma sighed, unable to take it any longer. "Guys, can we talk about something else."

"I wish I had a clone." said Ashley, like she was thinking it over as a serious possibility. "I'd make her do all the chores and stuff I don't want to do so that I could have more fun. But I wonder what wise things I'd tell my teenage self if I had the chance? Hmm."

Ruby cracked up and the others followed. "Ash, your teenage self was only five minutes ago! How much wiser can you possibly be in that time."

Kathryn smiled at the new couple, both of whom looked uncomfortable with the attention and like they could do with being rescued. "Well, it does sound like a lovely story. But can we please stop talking about being a teenager now? You're not supposed to be making me feel old on my birthday, even though I've decided  _not_  to count the cursed years in the total."

The waiter came over and offered them the next round of drinks, everybody repeated their order.

"What are you drinking there, Mary Margaret?" said Emma. "What is that? It looks interesting."

Mary Margaret giggled and raised her empty martini glass, the first one obviously already gone to her head. "It's a Poison Apple. See, I survived! Again."

Never one to be outdone, Regina dropped the cocktail menu onto the table and said to the waiter. "I'll have a Bloody Mary."

Nobody could tell if it was just her dark humour or if she was serious so it had the desired effect.

* * *

_108 Mifflin St_

Em woke at about 7pm feeling tired. She'd just laid down for a quick nap after dinner and ended up collapsing into an exhausted sleep instead. The bedroom was cool and dark and she was alone. Ri wasn't in bed next to her yet and the entire house sounded quiet.

She sat up in bed and frowned to herself, listening carefully. The house was silent but there was something off about it.

"I feel a disturbance in the force..." Em murmured to herself.

The teen padded into Henry's bedroom to check on him. At first glance he appeared to be in bed asleep even though it was far too early for his bedtime. But when she flicked on the lights she saw that the lump in bed was merely a pillow stuffed under the covers.

_Did you really think that lame trick would work, kid?_   _Who on earth would that fool?_   _I invented truancy. I wrote the book on running away. Why didn't you come to me for this? What are you up to?_

Downstairs, Em found them easily just as the pair were attempting to slip out the back door quietly. Ri and Henry, both dressed entirely in black, were shushing each other and tiptoeing around like thieves in the night.

"Henry, are you going to need a warmer jacket?" whispered Ri.

"Riii, you sound like Mom." Henry whispered back. "Let's go. Before she wakes up."

"Where do you two think you're going?" said Em. They whirled around at the sound of her disapproving voice.

* * *

_The White Rabbit_

The women were still chatting about anything and everything at a volume that kept increasing as the music and the bar around them got louder. They'd also had a fair few drinks between them by this point, which was bringing out the giggles frequently. Technically it was a girl's night out so their significant others weren't there (apart from Emma and Regina of course who were each other's Other) so it wasn't long before the conversation turned to men.

Kathryn was enjoying her first post-curse birthday. She was torn between wanting to chat longer with her friends and being impatient to leave so that she could see her boyfriend. She was a little concerned about how quiet Regina was tonight and was hoping to get her alone at some point so they could talk, but she kept getting roped into conversations that ranged from gossip to pure silliness.

"So where are your boys this evening, girls?" said Ruby.

"Sean's taking care of Alexie," said Ashley.

Mary Margaret nodded. "David went over there to watch the game with him."

Ruby raised her eyebrows pointedly at Kathryn. "And where's yours tonight? I hope he hasn't abandoned you on your birthday for a sports game."

Kathryn smiled and swirled her straw in her pink fruity drink. "No, we're having dinner later."

"How long is it that you've been together now?"

"Six months next week. I went looking for Frederik after the curse broke and found Tommy. It turns out my knight in shining armour is the gym teacher at Storybrooke Elementary. He told me he'd seen me around town a few times but was too shy to talk to me. The love of my life was under my nose the whole time yet we'd never even met."

"So, when's the wedding."

Mary Margaret admonished her. "Ruby! They might not be at that stage yet. Don't put undue pressure on them."

"What?" said Ruby. "It's a legit question. You fell in love with Charming after one song that he sang to your balcony. Cinders here married her prince after like, a single dance at a ball. You girls are lucky you didn't end up getting shackled to two-faced lying bastards. At least Kathryn has taken the time to scope her guy out a bit."

"That isn't how it happened actually," said Mary Margaret snootily. "For someone who mistook her own grandmother for a wolf in a nightgown you are being mighty skeptical, Red. Charming and I met in the woods by chance when I hit him in the face. Then we had to go find the trolls to get a refund on the jewels. We fell in love on the journey."

"Ah. We all know what" Ruby made air-quotes, "'camping in the woods' really means, don't we. Did you find any 'jewels' on your 'treasure hunt'?"

"You would know more about fornicating in the woods than I, wolf girl."

"Hey, at least I wasn't pregnant on my official wedding day like  _someone_  I know. Everyone at this table was there. Even if one of them was only jellybean-sized at the time."

Mary Margaret spluttered. "I - I was not pregnant then! Emma came early. She had to be to out-run the curse."

Ruby laughed. "Whatever you say, Snow. Check a calendar. You're off by an entire season you know."

Kathryn had to hide a smile at the expressions on Emma and Regina's faces. It was hard to tell which of them was more traumatised by hearing about Snow's pre-marital adventures. Or perhaps they'd logically deduced that they wouldn't have a relationship together now if Snow had waited until marriage and subsequently her baby's birth had missed the curse's deadline. The writers at Disney sure had left out a lot of details.

Ashley drumrolled her hands on the table. "Ok spill, Kathryn! Tell us what we want to know."

Kathryn nodded and couldn't hold back her news any longer. It still sent her heart aflutter when she thought of it and she thought she might be glowing. "Yes, we're getting married. I found the ring by accident. Tommy knows. He said that since I was the one who ruined the surprise, he's not going to tell me when or how he's going to ask and it could be anytime. Now I keep expecting to find a ring in every glass I drink from or have a flashmob jump out at me at any moment. I have no idea when it's actually going to happen and it's driving me nuts waiting!"

"Ten bucks says it's tonight," said Ruby, and all the others yessed and nodded in agreement.

"Oh by the way, Mary Margaret, if you and David are free sometime next week we need to meet with the lawyer."

"You're getting a divorce?" said Regina.

"Wow, you seem really cool with it," said Ashley. "Why aren't you bummed about it?"

Kathryn's gave them a serene smile, looking at each one around the table as she spoke. "I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I have Tommy, who I've loved forever, and it's been wonderful getting to know him again. He's actually not the same man as when he was Frederik. Things are slightly different, I imagine it's the same with all of you. On the other hand, I remember being married to David. I have memories of our honeymoon and even though I know that never actually happened, in my mind it's real. I want to honour that. I don't see what the difference is between real memories and fake memories. To me, they feel no different and before the curse broke I knew no difference either. The part of me that's Kathryn Nolan will always have love for David Nolan, but I am so grateful that we've both found the ones who we're really meant to be with now."

Ruby raised her glass for a toast. "Well said, birthday girl. To True Love!"

Mary Margaret clinked her glass. "I'll drink to that."

"And me," said Ashley.

Emma said to her, "So you're kinda like my stepmother? Because you were married to my father. I have the weirdest family tree."

Kathryn laughed. "Are you feeling left out, Emma? Any princess worth her salted caramel has an Evil Stepmother. I could try to ruin your life if you insist upon it but you'd probably come out on top anyway, so let's not and say we did?"

"Fine with me." Emma raised her glass and took a sip.

Ashley finished her glass off. "Mm! So now that David's free when are you getting married again, Mary Margaret?"

Emma was clearly surprised by the question herself and Kathryn could almost hear warning bells going off when she felt Regina's posture stiffen next to her.

Mary Margaret shook her head and waved her hands, trying to buzz away the attention and the keen stares of the other women. "No no no. We'll make it legal eventually but I've already had two weddings. That's plenty, believe me. Any future wedding I attend will be as a guest."

"Or as mother of the bride," Ruby muttered.

The glass in Regina's hand shattered, sending dripping shards and liquid spilling onto the table.


	45. Momentary

"So," said Em, as the three of them walked down the end of Mifflin St in the night. "Do either of you two want to tell me what we're doing? Or maybe you can explain why you're both dressed like cat burglars?"

"Depends on if I'm going to get into trouble or not," said Henry, giving her his cheeky grin.

"I'm reliably informed by the television that this is the appropriate attire for breaking and entering," said Ri.

Em shook her head at them in mock disapproval. "I can't believe you were going to do whatever it is that we're going to do without me. I'm an expert level troublemaker, guys. I feel so betrayed that you didn't consult me."

"I wanted you to come, Em," said Henry.

"I did too," said Ri. "But you were asleep and I thought you should rest."

Em shoved her hands into her hoodie pocket and kicked some gravel. Ri had noticed the change in her, they were close and knew each other so well. It was impossible that anyone could tell her secret from looking at her at this early stage, but she still felt the urge to cover up her middle. How much longer could she keep this a secret?

She tried to sound normal when she answered. "I'm fine."

"This is great!" said Henry, skipping ahead to turn around at the teens. "We could really do with your help, Em. With the three of us working together Operation Spitfire is going to be unstoppable!"

* * *

_The White Rabbit_

The others jumped at the noise of the glass shattering and grabbed paper serviettes to sop up the spill. The waiter came over to help clear the mess. Emma only just managed to scramble to her feet when Regina shoved past her to get out of the booth. She was cradling her hand as she escaped to the bathroom.

Mary Margaret whispered to Emma. "Is she ok?"

Emma nodded hastily. "Yeah. I'm sure it's just-"

"It's me isn't it."

"Er -" Emma wanted to reassure her otherwise but she wasn't quite sure that was the truth. "I'll go check on her."

Ruby saw her heading for the bathroom. "Oh Emma? When you guys make up, don't have sex in there. It's super filthy. Even I wouldn't."

Inside the bathroom (which was even more gross than Ruby had implied) Regina was pacing back and forth like a caged tiger with a look of murderous rage on her face. It was actually rather scary for more than one reason. Emma thought that this was maybe the first time she'd seen Regina actually look like the Evil Queen. She could imagine her being banished, trapped inside a dark castle, overflowing with rage and plotting revenge against those who had wronged her in life. But in all the ways she tried to picture it, one thing that stood out was how utterly alone the former Queen must've been.

"So… I'm here. If you want to talk about it," said Emma calmly.

"What?" Regina spat. "Do I look like I want to talk?"

"Or you can keep pacing around. The floor is kinda sticky in here. Yuck."

"I have to get away from here. I can NOT be around her right now. I shouldn't even be here!"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"I was doing so well before you made me come here tonight. I had to sit through all of that and now I'm so angry I could-" Regina cut herself off abruptly and balled up her fists.

"You're right about one thing," said Emma. "You've been doing really well, you still are. Starting a new life isn't easy."

"Stop being so reasonable! If you had any idea of the thoughts that are going around my head right now..."

"Talk to me. Please. I can see you're really upset. Let it out."

Regina glared at her and confessed every spiteful thing she was imagining in her mind. Even her voice sounded deeper and more malevolent. The torrent of hate (some of it violent) shocked Emma at first but she knew that it was better out than bottled up inside. She knew the stories, she knew of Regina's capacity for malice, but she'd also never known anyone who felt everything this deeply. The depth of her hate was only outmatched by the depth of her love, which Emma was far more well-acquainted with.

_I think this is what happens when you feel overwhelmed and angry at the world isn't it. You're in pain right now and every other time someone without your best interests at heart has come in and taken advantage of it, but this time you're not alone. I know that you won't make good on those threats but your anger is scaring you. You're afraid of losing me and Henry. But you won't. This is just a moment and it will pass. This anger isn't the only thing you have. It won't help you. But I will._

"How can Snow be so blase about it?" Regina was out of breath and her voice was hoarse from talking so much. "She was rubbing my face in it, in the fact that she can decide whether or not she gets married anytime she wants, like it's a matter of complete indifference. I never had that choice. She took that away from me. It changed the course of my entire life, it changed  _me_. I couldn't choose to marry Daniel because of her, I couldn't refuse to marry the King. I had no choice!"

"You'll never be in that position again. I promise. You're safe now."

"I don't know if I want to get married ever again!" Regina bit her lip and looked away when she realised what she'd said.

"That's ok."

"Why is it ok?"

"Um, I'm not sure what you mean," said Emma slowly. "Do you want me to propose to you so that you can exercise your right to say no?"

"No. Yes- I mean- I don't know what I'd say."

"If I did ask would you feel pressured to say yes? Even if you actually wanted to?"

Regina didn't answer, she merely looked vulnerable. How long had she been worrying about this? Emma was seriously considering what she was going to say next. She was trying hard to be sensitive, she understood why Regina might be not want to get married again but she really didn't get why she was so upset about it as if this had to be decided here and now. Didn't she know that Emma would never pressure her?

Then Emma realised. _Oh shit. This very evening I did exactly that and coerced her into coming here._   _But that was for her own good. Wasn't it? Regina deserves to have a normal life again and people deserve the chance to know the real her._   _There are so many things about her that I love. I want others to see some of what I see. Not for my sake though, for hers._

_She's like the others, she was born a princess. They're from a different time and place where marriages were decided upon in an instant and nobody waited to discover if there were any dealbreakers, which was stupid considering that divorce was not an option. But unlike the others she got royally fucked over by a marriage she didn't even want._

_Maybe she really did expect me to have proposed to her by now and she's been both hoping for and fearing it at the same time. We are headed in that direction eventually but we've never even talked about getting married. It must have made her wonder if I was as committed to this as she is, even though she doesn't know yet if she wants it. I pressured her into doing something tonight but I never made sure that she knew the final choice was still hers._

_Ever since I moved in with her she's been supporting me through my shit and the whole time she's had this commitment anxiety bottled up inside her. But she was too busy dealing with me to let me in and help her. Why would she feel like she couldn't tell me?_

"That kinda leaves me in a bit of a bind then," said Emma. "I'm not sure if you'd want me to ask you or not, and if I did ask it'd be hard for me to tell if you had any reservations about it. Either answer is fine, Regina. There's no time limit on it, it's kinda early for us to be thinking about this. I'm not ready. Everything between us has happened so fast: sharing a kid, falling in love, moving in together. Don't worry about what the Disney princesses out there were saying. If you don't want to get married yet - or if you never do - that's fine. If you don't know what you want, that's fine too. We'll decide everything together ok."

"I'm so confused. I wish I-" Regina closed her eyes. "I don't know."

"Is this your last wish? Is this the thing you're not sure if you want me to ask you?"

"Yes," Regina whispered.

"Ok. How about this. What if you ask me?"

Regina was visibly taken aback, as if the possibility hadn't even occurred to her. In some ways she was still Ri, the young girl of Royal birth who had been brought up expecting that someone else would decide when and who she would marry. Waiting for Ri to speak up could take forever and it seemed that her older self hadn't quite outgrown that. Whether it was her choice or not, she always did get into trouble when she held her emotions inside. Regina could've brought up the topic herself at any time but she hadn't - not until things got to breaking point. Literally.

Regina was still staring at Emma like she'd suggested they move under the sea.

Emma chuckled. "We're not in some medieval hellhole here, Regina. You're in the 21st century now. Inside the grotty bathroom of a dingy bar so this is hardly the place for a proposal. One day, if you change your mind and you decide that you really do want us to get married, then ask me. Or ask me to ask you. Or at least give me some sort of really obvious hint so I get the message. Spell it with your peas."

"Why would you even want to marry me? How can you, knowing how I feel towards your mother? I'm still dangerous. I'm not noble enough to suggest that you leave for your own sake, but I don't want you to get hurt. You risk that every day with me and every day that we're together we get more entangled. Eventually it may be too hard for you to let go. Why are you still here?"

"Because you're trying." Emma smiled. "I know you refer to her as my mother like that to remind yourself who she is to me and what you'd be risking. I only get wary when you start calling her 'Snow'. I know you're scared right now and it's alright to be angry when you have reason to be. But you don't need to cling to it anymore. It's not all you have left. I hope you know how much more you have in your life now."

"Of course I do. I have you and Henry."

"Can't you see? You have more than that. You've tried so hard to change and it's not just me, other people are starting to notice. You've got your job back and your freedom and you've got a lot of people on your side. Archie. Granny. Ruby. Astrid and Leroy. Kathryn and the girls tonight. My parents are on your side, even if you don't want them to be. Henry has always believed that you can be good. He loves you. And you've also got me. For better or for worse, as long I live.

I love you, Regina. I want to be with you. Maybe we will get married some day but you'll always be free to leave if ever you want to. I can't promise to fix all of your problems - because geez you come with a lot of them and so do I - but I can promise that you won't have to face that shit alone anymore."

In three strides Regina crossed the dirty tiles between them and threw herself into a pair of waiting arms. Emma wrapped her up tightly in a hug and lifted her off the floor.

* * *

_Storybrooke Elementary, reception office_

"Hey, nerd," said Em, reaching over to mess up Henry's hair. "Isn't this your school? Is this your lame idea of making trouble? It's Friday night, we could be anywhere. Don't you get enough of school during the day?"

Henry shrugged her off and smoothed his hair down. "It's not that! It's Operation Spitfire. We're here on a top secret mission to destroy the enemy's base of knowledge."

"Say again?"

"Repeat. Information critical to mission success is being held by hostile forces. Whatever we do, we can not return to headquarters until we destroy it. If anyone finds out before it's time, then it could be really bad. It could ruin everything."

Em raised an eyebrow over her black frames. "Yeah, so basically we're here to break in and hack the principal's computer?"

"Yes. That's why I need your help."

"Because I can get in and out of buildings easily, I can get into computers with no problems, and I can get around people without being seen. What is this for? Did you get a B minus on a test that you want changed to an A or something?"

"No. I get all A's."

"Of course you do." Em rolled her eyes and then turned to Ri, surprised that she'd gone along with it so far. "You agreed to this crazy idea?"

Ri nodded. "Yes?"

"Henry." Em grabbed his shoulder to stop him for a sec. She bent over to his level to look him in the eye. "Did you tell Ri everything?"

"Yeah. Kinda."

"Kid, she isn't your Mom yet. Ri's not from this world, you can't use that to take advantage of her, ok? Especially if it's to get her permission for something that she doesn't know is dangerous and/or illegal. That's not fair."

"Em, it's alright," said Ri. "Henry told me what happened at school. He told me who his school principal was and I recognised her right away from my world. I know her."

"You do?"

"Yes. She comes to the estate to see my mother but they are certainly not friends. She's rather infamous. She always was a horrible old b- person." Ri amended hastily.

Em regarded the two of them suspiciously for a second before deciding on the plan. "Okay. But we'll do it my way."

"Yes!" said Henry.

When the three of them were standing outside the door to the school's head office, Em stopped the other two so that she could peek in the windows and scope it out and check around for things like motion sensors and security cameras. She couldn't see any, though the entrance was well-lit and there was a sticker on the window for a security company.

_Ooh a sticker, I'm so deterred. Not._

Em reached for the doorknob, which was locked, and it clunked without opening when she turned it. She tried it again a few more times and was surprised when the lock didn't slip open easily for her as usual when she was breaking in somewhere. Her magic was unreliable sometimes but she hadn't known it to fail her completely before.

_What the hell_?  _Nevermind then, plan B._  Out of nowhere Em produced two flat pieces of metal about four inches long and with hooked ends. Recognised the lock as a basic pin-and-tumbler design, she inserted the metal pieces at an angle inside the keyhole and attempted to rake the lock. It took her a few tries but she managed to manipulate the pins into place. The deadbolt opened with a click.

"Awesome," said Henry. "Where did you learn to do that? Can you teach me?"

"No," said Em and Ri in unison.

Em pushed the door open and peered inside the darkened office. "Follow me, stay close, do exactly as I say. I'm going first."

* * *

_The White Rabbit_

Regina let Emma hold her for a while longer until she felt herself calming down. She felt Emma place a kiss in her hair and laid her head on her shoulder so that she could rest there. Emma had an inch or two of the height advantage for once, owing to the skyhigh stilettos she wore, but it was negated by the fact that Regina was now standing on the tops of Emma's toes.

It was amazing. Emma really had been telling the truth when she said Regina could trust her with anything. She'd listened to the darkest parts of her heart and offered sympathy in return.  _I used to doubt that anyone could love me fully, but Emma doesn't just love my redemption. She loves me. Including the part that barely survived the past and still lashes out occasionally. She actually loves all of me._

The bathroom door swung open and Kathryn came in. "Oh! Hi. Ashley and Mary Margaret are leaving. I've got to go soon to meet Tommy."

Emma pressed a discrete kiss to Regina's temple and then turned around towards Kathryn. "Thanks, I'll just go say goodnight."

She gave Regina a significant look and a silent communication passed between them:

"Here's your chance, Regina. Talk to her."

"Don't you dare abandon me!"

Once Emma left, Regina busied herself at the mirrors above the sink like she was checking her makeup, even though she had no fixers with her. Kathryn came over next to her to do the same but she didn't say anything. Regina examined her hand where she'd been holding the glass that shattered and there was only a slight scratch so she ran cold water over over it for a minute or so. Her hands were still covered in Bloody Mary and they felt sticky and unclean. Even the air felt germy in this wretched excuse for a washroom.

"Have I done something wrong, Regina?" said Kathryn, eyeing her reflection in the mirror.

Regina was surprised by the question. Why would Kathryn ask if  _she_  had done anything wrong? She was the one who had been used to prevent a relationship, then been kidnapped and held in a basement by a deranged imp and found days later. Regina knew she should find a way to apologise, but the words were stuck in her throat. How could she even begin to justify what she'd done to this innocent woman. Why did she care so much? In the past she'd had no qualms about using anyone or anything to enact her revenge upon her enemy.

_Ugh. Where did this empathy come from? It's so uncomfortable..._

Kathryn gave her a small smile. "I've been wondering why I hadn't heard from you since before the curse broke. I heard what happened. It sounded like you could have done with an ally. I wish you would've called me."

"But I couldn't-" Regina said weakly. "After what I did-"

"Regina. I'm a princess, I'm the daughter of a King who can make anything he touches turn to gold. I've been abducted seven times. If I haven't received a threat of extortion by lunchtime I get suspicious."

Regina was too stunned to respond for the second time that night. The woman before her - who she'd caused deliberate harm to for her own purposes - was concerned about her. How could this be? In her former life as the Evil Queen and before that as the emotionally neglected daughter of a disgraced prince and an evil sorceress, she had never experienced this kind of forgiveness or offer of support. Emma was right, it wasn't just Kathryn. She saw now that there had been others as well. Did this parade of sickening do-gooders really want to see her come through it? Maybe things really were changing for her in response to her own efforts.

_But isn't this what I wanted? I wanted them to see that I could change and now that they are it's so unexpected that I don't know how to take it._

"Thanks for coming tonight," said Kathryn. "It means a lot to me. Sorry about all the marriage talk by the way, but what do you expect from a table full of princesses? And Ruby, who has no filter."

Without needing much encouragement Kathryn kept up the conversation, asking her about how things were going with Emma and how Henry was doing. She seemed interested in helping with the upcoming election campaign too. She was acting like - for the lack of a better word - a friend. Kathryn's easy-going nature was contagious and before she knew it Regina had agreed to the suggestion to resume their friendship from the point before last year's unpleasantness by meeting her for coffee sometime soon.

Kathryn spied the time on her watch. "Now I really have to go! Tommy could be waiting somewhere with a giant 'Marry me' banner and a quartet of violins."

"Yes, of course," said Regina. "You don't want to miss that. Emma and I should go too. We told the girls we'd be back before Henry went to bed."

* * *

Mary Margaret was putting on her coat when Emma went up to her at the door, ready to say her goodbyes.

"Regina didn't cut herself on the glass did she?" said Mary Margaret.

"No, she's alright," said Emma. She didn't elaborate on the freakout and the talk afterwards but her mother gave her the kind of knowing look that meant she suspected there was more to it.

"Emma, while I've got you here..." said Mary Margaret. "What's happening with the shrinking border? Have you found out how to reverse the spell yet? I finally heard back from the Blue Fairy and she has no magical input to give, but she is concerned about the lack of progress particularly with regards to your leadership. I've been in contact with the War Council and they say you haven't given them orders in quite some time."

Emma was taken aback. "Uh - what? The last time Leroy checked with me he said the border was stalled. It hasn't moved closer in ages. Why do we have to worry about it if it's not going anywhere?"

"We need to know why it's stopped for the same reason we need to know why it was shrinking. We don't have control over it. You know what's at stake here, Emma. What have you done about figuring this out? Have you done anything yet?"

The disapproval in her tone set Emma on the defensive and immediately her sense of injustice flared. Why was it  _her_  responsibility to lead them and figure this shit out? She'd never asked to be the Saviour or a princess or the Council leader or any of it. The only thing she'd wanted was a family, but hers had come packaged with duties she couldn't get out of apparently.

"I'll get around to it," Emma said shortly. "I've had other stuff to do. I'm still figuring things out with Regina so that our relationship has a chance. She's going through some stuff right now. We're trying to give Henry some stability and at the same time we're taking care of two sneaky teenagers. Plus I have my normal job and Regina is running for an election. For the first time in my life I've got parents and- … I'm sorry! I don't know how to be someone's daughter. Give me a break ok."

"Ok." Mary Margaret smiled. "I'm sure you've got everything under control. Please try to remember that you're also a Royal, Emma. We have a responsibility to the people of the realm and we must protect them as we would our own family. They trust us for a reason."

Her anger was doused in an instant and Emma suddenly felt about two inches tall.  _They don't even know that they could soon lose everything, their memories, their relationships, their happy endings… and it'll be my fault. But I have no idea how to stop it! What am I going to do?_

"I have to go now and pick up your father, but thanks for coming tonight. Kathryn really wanted to see Regina for her birthday and we knew the only way to get her here was to offer you as bait. Ashley thinks you two look cute together by the way. Ruby thinks you two would look cute in her bed… I think she was only half joking."

Mary Margaret leaned in to kiss Emma's cheek. "Have a good night, honey. Let us know if you need anything."

* * *

_Principal Gander's office_

"Have you found it yet, Em?" whispered Henry. He was hanging in the doorway by one hand. He'd been pestering her every five seconds since she booted up the principal's computer which was so old it took ten minutes.

"Kid!" Em hissed at him but didn't stop typing furiously. "You're supposed to be keeping a lookout. Get back out there!"

Ri was hovering near her side, watching Em as she typed and clicked through various things on the computer.

"What kind of television is this?" said Ri.

"It's more than just a TV, it's a computer. Like Henry's laptop thing that we watch movies on. This one's got all sorts of work stuff on it. Student records, course notes, interviews with parents …"

Ri draped her arms around Em's neck and kissed her cheek. She whispered in her ear. "You look so sexy right now. Is that the correct usage of the word?"

Em turned her face and did a double-take. Ri was staring at her lips like she wanted to kiss her. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Uhh- " Em blinked slowly.  _Oh God, I want her so badly right now. Wait, what? Seriously what's up with these crazy hormones taking over my body? What I wouldn't give to have my hands on her skin or have her sitting in my lap or to kiss her breathless. Or all of those things. I'm totally picturing making love in my head and getting all hot and bothered by it. I knew the first time we met that she'd be my everything and it's true. Sigh, she's so beautiful and amazing and oh wow-_

"Shouldn't you be doing something," teased Ri. "Instead of staring down my shirt?"

"Yes!" Em snapped out of her daze. "Sorry. I mean - Ri, don't distract me. I'm breaking like ten laws here."

Em continued working through the computer. She pushed her glasses up her nose and scanned the document she opened. "Hm, what's this."

"It says my name and yours and Henry's too. It's all about magic and the curse and Fairytale Land. There's what happened with Henry at school the other day when he nearly got expelled. Later it's saying something about Mary Margaret and Cora. There's even stuff about that gimpy Mr Gold here. There's a map of Storybrooke with a yellow line around it. Even some stuff about your parents, Ri. What the hell is she keeping all these sketchy notes on magical happenings in Storybrooke for?"

"Mother Goose is no fan of magic," said Ri, with a somber shake of the head.

"Mother Goose. Seriously? Isn't she the one who wrote a bunch of nursery rhymes and shit?"

"Yes, but her intention was to draw children in by spinning incredible tales in order to promote anti-magic sentiments to innocent minds on the side. She is very superstitious. My mother hates her, which ordinarily ought to be a point in her favour, but it sounds like she's taken a dislike to Henry as well. I don't think she approves of our family at all."

There was a beat while the teenagers shared a fierce glare with each other. Neither of them was going to stand by while their son was being victimised. It never was wise to get between a mother and her cub. Or two mothers and their cub. As Principal Gander was about to learn.

"Oops! I permanently deleted the file," said Em. "Oh no. Sorry to have ruined your evil plans, Mother G. I'm also getting rid of the record of Henry's misbehaviour from his academic record on the school server. I'll make it say he got a commendation instead, for standing up to a bully."

"But won't she know that it's gone?"

"Maybe, but it won't stop the fact that she's lost her proof. No-one messes with my kid."

Em kept clicking the mouse and doing whatever she was doing with the files. It'd been a while since Henry had popped his head inside the door. She stopped what she was doing to listen for any suspicious sounds. She thought she could hear dull footsteps but it was probably just her imagination. Was it Henry maybe? Where had that kid gotten to?

The footsteps got louder. It was definitely not Henry. The girls froze. Ri shot her a look of alarm at the faint sound of a set of keys jingling.

"Ri," said Em quietly. "Go check on Henry while I finish this. When you find him both of you go wait outside."

"Are you sure?" whispered Ri worriedly. "What about you?"

"I'll catch up. I'm like Houdini, remember? I'm just making sure I've covered my tracks. I'm downloading a bit of gay porn and malware for good measure. After I'm through with this thing Gander won't want it for anything other than to use as a paperweight."

Ri was reluctant to leave. Em nodded quickly and shooed her to the door with a flick of her wrist. "Go!"


	46. Some day

_The White Rabbit_

Inside the bar, Regina found Emma waiting for her at their booth holding both their coats and Regina's handbag. The other women must've left already, except for Ruby who was playing pool across the room with a handful of appreciative guys.

"We should go home and check on them," said Regina, when she joined her in the booth. "It's nearly 8:30. Are you ready?"

Emma smiled. "Yeah, how'd it go?"

"It was-" Regina rolled her eyes. "Fine! You were right, she wants to be my friend. We're having coffee next week. She even said that she'd help with the election campaign. Apparently I'm a PR nightmare. Some people will consider me worse now because of my relationship with a woman than I was as the Evil Queen, which I find to be a ridiculous inversion of morality. You are hardly the most evil thing I've ever done."

"I like it when you do me. I was right wasn't I."

"That's what you took away from this? The fact that you were right?"

"Yeah, see. I'm not the only one that likes you. But I win because I'm the one who gets to sleep in your bed."

"I intend to use my teeth to remove that stunning red dress of yours later tonight. It shows your figure to such advantage."

"Really?" said Emma quickly. "Uh, yes. You should definitely do that."

Under the table, Regina placed her hand on Emma's knee and pushed up the hem of her dress. Emma shot her a warning look. Regina ignored it and kept her gaze locked on Emma's, all the while tracing circles on her inner thigh.

"What are you doing." Emma was speaking low even though the bar music and raucous conversation drowned everything out.

"Not a thing, dear. Incidentally, why haven't you kissed me all night?"

"Wha-" Emma was finding it hard to concentrate. She'd only had one drink tonight, it was the intoxicating woman next to her with her hand up her dress that was causing her brain to fail. Regina was staring at her lips now in the tell-tale way that meant she wanted to kiss her.

"Is it because you don't want people to see?" said Regina.

Emma licked her lips. "I thought you might not be ready for that yet."

"I'm ready if you are." Regina leaned in and hovered over her lips for a second before initiating the kiss. Her lips were parted and she swept her tongue across Emma's bottom lip, which she then bit softly with her teeth. The peppery taste from Regina's cocktails gave the kiss an extra kick.

They were obscured by the booth so hardly anyone in the bar noticed them, except the bartender who nodded once and raised a shotglass in their direction. He downed it in one go and then returned to his duties.

"Is anybody looking?" said Regina, not taking her eyes away.

"I don't know," admitted Emma.

"You're staring."

"So are you."

They both smiled and kissed again.

"Now let's go home," said Emma. "As fast as possible."

* * *

_Principal Gander's office_

"Hurry up, you stupid slow computer." Em felt like biting her nails waiting for the thing to shutdown properly. She hadn't heard anything of Ri or Henry. They hadn't come back.

One of the far office doors opened. Someone must've entered the reception building.

Gander's room was small and only had one entry. Em could either or try to get outside or hide in here and hope no-one came in. Both ways there was risk being discovered. Maybe it was just a routine security patrol and they'd miss her completely. She could get around people. Her powers had served her in the past. When standing right in front of someone they wouldn't even know it. But if she was caught here they'd know what she'd done and Henry would get in even more trouble.

The footsteps and the jangle of keys got louder. Operation Spitfire had run out of time.

Em couldn't wait any longer. She switched the monitor off. She crept up to the open door and tried to look around the corner without giving away her presence.

The fluorescent lights flickered on, throwing the entire office into a bright glare.

_Shit! If I try to sneak out now whoever it is will see me for sure. I need to get out. I need my magic to work. Or an invisibility cloak._

More footsteps sounded. Then a stern voice spoke. "Is there someone there? Show yourself."

It was a woman with a honky bark so it must've been the Principal. Em had the urge to laugh hysterically despite the danger, imagining the vicious goose's reaction to her newly acquired files.

The door to the printing room next to hers opened. Then she heard papers being shifted around and shuffled through. Gander must be in there. Now was her chance to sneak out, disappear, escape.

Em peeked around the corner again. The coast was clear. But for how long?

Em slipped out of the office without being seen. Her Converse shoes made no sound on the linoleum. Taking care to keep her steps light she headed for the exit at a creep.

* * *

"Henry, no!" Ri whispered. "You can't go back in."

Henry struggled against the hold she had on his hand. "Where's Em? We have to go back for her."

"Please, Henry. I'm sure she's fine. She told me to find you and wait out here."

Henry stopped fighting her but he still looked like he might bolt. They were outside the school, hidden in the shadows of the building. They'd been waiting for Em for nearly ten minutes. Ri was getting worried too. Surely Em should've caught up by now?

"Ri, look at that!" Henry pointed to the carpark where a white Corolla was parked.

"The car? It wasn't there before was it?" said Ri.

"I think that's the Principal's car. Em's in trouble."

Before Ri could grab him, Henry ran back towards the office. She was deciding whether to go after him or stay outside as Em had told her to do when she felt a hand tap on her shoulder.

* * *

"What are you doing here!"

Em stopped in her tracks at the hard voice. She turned around slowly. The voice had come from behind her where a white-haired older woman barely five feet tall stood. The principal was staring right at Em with her beady eyes.

"Did you not hear me, girl?" said the goose. "I demand to know why you are here at this time of night."

When Em realised her powers had failed dread sank in her stomach. "Y-you can see me."

Principal Gander curled her lip. "Of course I can, Sheriff Swan."

"Uh-"

"Is your memory impaired or have you forgotten how to speak? We were introduced several days ago, Sheriff. This is hardly the appropriate manner to greet an acquaintance. I thought I made myself quite clear about your deplorable diction then."

"Diction?" echoed Em.

"You've yet to answer my question. Are you conducting an illegal search?"

"I was-" Em fished for an excuse and got a lightbulb idea. "Some kids broke in. I was checkin' it out. Cos I'm Sheriff."

Gander narrowed her eyes. "You're working rather late this evening aren't you?"

Em shrugged and gave her ponytail a casual flick. "I'm always on duty, ma'am. Protect and Serve."

"I won't even bother to comment again on your lack of uniform, but where is your badge? How do you expect to arrest delinquent teenagers when you're dressed just like one of them? Where is your display of authority?"

"They're just kids," said Em, resisting rolling her eyes. "I left my badge at home. It's probably in bed with my girlfriend. She likes to role-play so I wear my uniform sometimes. Just for her."

If it were possible to destroy someone you hated with the strength of your glare these two would've succeeded. Without knowing it, Em's death glare was working in her favour since she looked very much like her older self right now. Their tete-a-tete was broken by a third person.

"Appreciate you coming so quickly, Sheriff," said Leroy. He twirled his keyring around one finger.

Em tried not to look surprised. She played along. "Yeah. No problem."

Leroy explained straight-faced to Gander that he'd locked his keys inside the office during his shift earlier that evening and when he'd turned up with the spare set he noticed some kids hanging around. So he'd called Emma, who was only too happy to check it out. Gander nodded primly, indicating that it was the minimum standard she expected.

"We'll leave you to it, Principal Gander," said Leroy.

They turned to go, fighting the urge to run out. Em called over her shoulder. "I'll be sure to write up a full report on the incident. Fully detailed, with page numbers and everything. No stone unturned!"

Leroy hissed under his breath. "Shut up, kid. Don't overdo it."

She hissed back. "Whatever."

"What were you doing here?"

"Nothin'. What are  _you_  doing here?"

"Brat."

"Dwarf."

"Hey. Not everything about me is small. Astrid certainly isn't complaining."

"Oh. my. god," said Em, horrified. "Why would you tell me that!"

They were almost out the door when Henry ran in at full pelt. "Em, what's going on-"

Leroy and Em jumped back so that he wouldn't crash into them. "Henry!"

Gander, who hadn't moved an inch, was watching them suspiciously especially now that Henry had turned up. They were this close to being busted.

"Kid, what are you doing here," said Em impatiently. "You shouldn't be here."

Henry protested. "But Em-"

Em turned on a frown for Gander's benefit and imagined an angry parent, which wasn't hard since she'd lived it many times. She grabbed the boy's arm by the elbow and wrenched him toward her.

"I thought I told you to wait outside!" Em said harshly. "How many times have I told you to do as I say!"

_Uh oh._  Her performance must've been far too authentic because the colour drained out of Henry's face. He shrank visibly, confused by her reaction.

Gander must've approved though. "I'm pleased to see that you are somewhat capable of good parenting, Sheriff."

Em gritted her teeth. "We're leaving."

* * *

As soon as they'd reached relative safety, Leroy explained that Astrid had sent him to help them out. Em's thanks came out too grumbly for her liking, she was appreciative but she was cut up about what she'd said to Henry.

She eyed the kid guiltily and told him what happened but he didn't look at her once. He stared at the ground and scuffed his sneaker in the gravel of the parking area.

"Kid, I didn't mean it," said Em. "I had to make something up. I'm not sure Gander believed the whole thing anyway. Tell me you're not scarred for life."

Henry looked up and twisted his lips uncertainly. "Are you sure you're not mad at me for some other reason? You hated me when you first got here."

"Um ... but I don't now," said Em weakly.

She hated herself right now though. Ever since finding out she was pregnant her mind had been torturing her with the possibility of keeping the baby. She'd gone over and over it, wondering if she was actually capable of being a good mother despite having no role models herself. Now she'd been called a "good" parent for behaviour that she knew was the very opposite of the kind of parent she'd want for her child. Acting like a bad parent had been too easy for her. Each day she became more certain that she couldn't be a mother. Her heart was breaking because each day she she realised she loved him more.

"I don't hate you, kid," she murmured. "Actually, I kinda -"

Henry brightened up. "Hey, we did it! Operation Spitfire was a success. All because of you, Em. That was brilliant."

Em tried not to think about how the mission would've gone down if Henry and Ri had come here by themselves and had gotten caught in Gander's office.  _Wait a sec-_

"Where's Ri?" said Em.

Henry looked around, searching the darkened school grounds. "I dunno. I left her out here."

Em groaned. "Ugh. If it's not one of you that needs saving it's the other. I don't think I'm cut out for this hero thing. Now Ri's missing."

"That's not the only bad thing. Look."

"What now?"

Henry held up his digital watch. It read 8:45pm. Exactly fifteen minutes after Emma and Regina were expected home.

* * *

_The White Rabbit_

Emma and Regina were just about to leave the bar when the start of a commotion got their attention.

"Hey, watch your hands, buddy," said Lacey angrily. She smacked the guy's hand off her ass and gave him a shove in the shoulder. The men surrounding her laughed and ooohed at her display of spunk. The handsy guy, who was built like a linebacker, made another grab for her. He trapped her in a hug while she struggled.

"Let go!" cried Lacey.

Ruby also saw what happened from where she was playing pool. In the flash of a second she appeared far across the room. She pulled the sleeve of the guy's jacket. "Hey! She said no. Let her go."

"Yeah, what's it to you? I spent sixty bucks on drinks for this chick. I oughta get something for it."

"Asshole." With superhuman strength Ruby pulled him by the shoulders and threw him into the pack of guys surrounding them. One of them stumbled into a nearby group who took offense and were eager to retaliate. It never did take much provocation to escalate a bar fight among people who'd been drinking and the whole place seemed ready to explode in a free-for-all.

"Shit," Emma muttered. "I haven't got my badge or my gun."

No sooner had she said the words, Regina held out her hand. There was a puff of purple smoke and she produced both items for Emma to take.

"I can subdue them with magic," Regina offered.

"Wait-" said Emma hastily. "Don't kill them."

Regina rolled her eyes at the assumption. "Pity. Take all the fun out of it why don't you."

Before heading for the trouble Emma told Regina to stay out of it, not wanting her to get hurt or to be put in a position where she'd have to use her magic and thereby jeopardise her political image before the election. She was wasting her breath.

Ruby managed to get Lacey to a safe distance, but the ruckus the drunk barfly had launched was already well underway.

The Sheriff confronted the crowd, held out her badge and ordered them to cool it before she arrested them all, which admittedly was a bit of stretch. She tried to pull the guys away one at a time, but there were far too many of them and some seemed to have joined the fight to try to break up the fight, which wasn't helping in the slightest.

All of a sudden, a pink sparkly mist appeared and the men stopped fighting and slumped to the floor or over barstools or tables dead asleep.

Ruby and Emma looked at each other confused for a second, and then at Regina who was calmly standing by.

"Regina," said Emma suspiciously. "What've you done."

"I thought you were aware that sleeping curses were my specialty," said Regina.

"You cursed them to sleep _forever_?" said Ruby.

"Not forever," Regina said defensively. "Do I look like I'm hiding a basket of poison apples on my person? It's just a sedating spell to let them sleep it off for the night. You're welcome by the way."

Lacey was more than a little tipsy so Ruby suggested taking her to Granny's. It was a sad comparison to see this version of Belle, who had previously been a kind girl and convinced enough of humanity's goodness to try to tame a beast like Rumpelstiltzskin. Apparently Belle's alter-ego Lacey was a regular drinker and instigator of trouble at the White Rabbit. She loved it when they fought over her, as the bartender told them on the way out.

The only mercy was that Gold hadn't been there to witness it. Emma had a feeling that if he had been, a beating with a cane would've been the least of everyone's worries.

* * *

"Please, I need you to tell me," said Ri earnestly. "Is it possible?"

Astrid sighed unhappily. She didn't want to admit an unpleasant truth, knowing what she did about Regina's past. They were outside in the dark of the schoolyard waiting on Leroy and the kids to come find them. The former nun had realised that her young charges were in trouble yet again and had come to help. She'd found Ri waiting outside the school. The young girl was still worried and perseverating over what she might do if she ever lost Em or Henry. But Astrid had no comforting answers for her.

"I can't lose either of them. If someone I love dies could a wish bring them back?"

"There's no way," said Astrid apologetically. "Even if I were powerful. I'm sorry."

"I'm sick of wishing," said Ri quietly. "But they all came true eventually for Regina. I can see why she'd given up hope though. Her last wish is going to come true all on it's own, just like the others. I want it too, I know she still wants it. She thinks she's too old now to need a wish enough to make one. What if there was something else that she didn't even know she wanted, something that wasn't possible in this world, could she use her wish for that?"

"It depends," said Astrid vaguely. "Maybe if she believed in me."

"You said the other day when you came to rescue us that you were our fairy godmother."

Astrid nodded rapidly. "Oh, I am! I serve the Swan-Mills family."

"That's a dangerous role you've taken on. We're a small family. If the last of our line were killed you would lose your wings. If all of us stopped believing in you then you could cease to exist."

"I know for a fact that one of you still believes, Young Regina."

"Henry. Doesn't he get a wish now too?"

"Well no..."

Ri glared fiercely. "He can't be ineligible because he's a Mills. Why is my son going to be refused his birthright? Like I was!"

Even as a teenager the future queen had it in her to be intimidating. She certainly was growing into herself these days. Apparently, Ri hadn't quite given up her distrust of fairies. Not where her son's welfare was concerned. Astrid wanted to clear up the miscommunication but she also knew that she couldn't give too much away.

"He's not," Astrid squeaked. "Sorry. That's not what I meant. As Emma and Regina's son, Henry was definitely eligible."

"Was?" echoed Ri in surprise. "You mean he-"

"Yes, he's already used his wish. It's been granted."

Finally Ri smiled and Astrid let out a breath of relief.

"So what did he wish for?" asked Ri, then she saw Astrid about to interrupt. "Oh yes yes, I know you can't tell me. Privacy clause and all that. If you tell anyone your wish before it happens it doesn't come true. Nevermind. Thankyou for giving him a wish. I wanted my son to have the chance that I never had."

"I can tell you that it's the most unique wish I've ever heard of..." hinted Astrid. "A wish very important for all of us in fact. He came to me about three weeks ago and asked for fairy dust."

"Now you're being deliberately cryptic, Astrid. I know you can't tell me so I shall ask no more about it. Thereby removing your ability to dangle perplexing hints in front of me. I'm dying to know what my son needed his wish for!"

"I'm sure you will find out soon."

Astrid then asked how Em was faring after the car accident the other day and Ri assured her that she was fine, though tired and a little shaken by the experience. That seemed to remind the young girl of something else that'd happened that day. She stared down at her empty palms before closing them into fists.

"Astrid, I need to ask you something about magic-" started Ri, but she didn't get very far. Henry ran up to them, followed by Em and a wheezing Leroy.

"Ri!" cried Henry. "There you are! Hi Astrid."

"Found you," said Em, panting a little. "Thanks guys."

Leroy rebuffed the gratitude. "You three brats better get home now. We've got a date to get back to."

Astrid and Leroy said their goodbyes and the two groups parted ways. Em tried to hurry Henry and Ri along, but they gave her strange looks when she suggested they run back to Mifflin St.

"Run?" said Ri. "I don't do running without due cause."

"Since when do you care about getting in trouble, Em?" said Henry. "You never did before."

"I'm responsible for you," said Em exasperatedly. "Nobody is going to believe this wasn't my idea. Come on, we gotta try to beat them home. If we hurry we might sneak in just in time."

* * *

_108 Mifflin St_

When Emma and Regina got home the house was dead quiet and none of the lights were on. They were delayed by the bar fight and having to drop Ruby and Lacey off at the B&B. It was after 9pm, so they expected Henry to be asleep, but it looked like the girls must already be in bed too. While Regina went to go check on the kids Emma went up to their en suite bathroom.

Emma tied her hair back so that she could brush her teeth and wash her face. She was towelling dry when saw Regina appear in the mirror.

"Kids asleep?" said Emma.

"In a manner of speaking," said Regina, leaning in the doorway. "All three of them are in Ri's bed. I think they're only pretending to be asleep though. I heard giggles when I closed the door."

Emma smiled knowingly. A conspiracy was afoot. Something went down tonight, she could feel it. She could sense magically that the kids were in the bedroom together, something seemed off about it though. But if the kids were there with their limbs intact they couldn't have gotten into too much trouble, she reasoned.

She made room beside her at the vanity for Regina to start her evening routine, which had more steps to it and better results to show for it than hers. There was something about seeing her looking natural with freshly scrubbed skin and Regina being comfortable with her that way that made Emma feel privileged. She also smelled amazing and Emma could never figure out which lotion or potion was responsible for it no matter how hard she tried to snoop.

"I hope tonight wasn't too painful for you," Emma said, by way of apology. "You know I'd never force you to do anything that you really weren't ready for, right?"

"Yes." Regina smiled. "I know that. As annoying as the rest of the night was I'm glad I was able to talk with Kathryn."

"Good. I'm sorry for the moving house drama taking over everything recently. I was a jerk to you all last week."

"Not all week, dear," said Regina wryly, reminding them both of their office tryst.

Emma grinned. "Ok, that I'm not even sorry for. Bet you won't be able to sit in your office without thinking about sex for a while."

Regina leaned over the sink to brush her teeth. Her short dark locks threatened to escape and fall in her face so Emma held her hair back for her instead. She got a newly minted kiss for her efforts when Regina was done.

"I hope you're starting to feel more at home here?" said Regina.

"Yeah, I'm getting there. I really am." Emma paused for a sec before deciding whether to say it. "It feels better just knowing I can talk to you about it. You know? I'm glad that we can um, talk things through with each other."

"I am too. It is a relief. Like what we talked about in that disgrace of a bathroom at the bar."

"Yeah, I guess," said Emma, before blowing out a breath. "The marriage thing. Ugh, my parents are so irritating sometimes. They're happy to do it for the third time, meanwhile here's you and me shit-scared to do it once."

Regina started to say that she'd been married before and then stopped. They both agreed that what she'd had then was a wedding, not a marriage. At some point in her life, like many young girls, Regina had wished to marry for True Love and reality had fallen far short. Emma wasn't as taken in by romantic stuff as Regina, even their younger selves differed in that respect. She couldn't remember thinking of ever getting married, instead (whenever she let herself imagine it) she'd pictured having a home with someone. Luckily their wishes were aligned with what they both wanted now.

What Regina said next reminded Emma of her younger self when the teenagers first appeared in Storybrooke. She hadn't known them for long but Ri had gossiped about weddings and told them how she was only looking forward to hers for one reason.

"I didn't get to wear it," said Regina quietly. "The dress I made. It wasn't grand enough for a Royal wedding and there was some heirloom lace that I was expected to wear instead."

"Do you still have it?" said Emma. "The one you made out of fairyspit or whatever?"

"Fairyshot." Regina pursed her lips into a smile. "It might be around here somewhere."

"Good. You'll need it some day."

"Some day?"

"Yeah. Some day when we get over ourselves. If we ever decide to get married I want you to wear the dress you loved. I promise that I'll remove it very carefully on our wedding night."

Recalling her promise from before they left the bar, Regina stepped up behind Emma and pulled the zip of her dress down. She slipped the sleeves over Emma's shoulders and down her arms. The front of the dress was hanging around her hips. Regina placed her hands around Emma's waist and then ran them around her back.

Emma knew that Regina must've seen all of her scars by this point: there was the one on her upper chest where she'd had a mole removed, the thin marks around her belly from when she'd been pregnant with Henry, the burns on her forearm, and some small dots on her back. All of them were white and could hardly be seen anymore. Regina kissed her shoulder and then looked in the mirror with a question in her eyes.

"I came off Dean Chase's motorcycle," said Emma. "That was the road rash Em was sporting when she got here. Mine got infected too but I had to steal to get the medicine. They've faded a lot, but I hope you don't mind my scars."

"How can you ask me that when I have scars myself?"

Emma turned around to place her palm on Regina's breastbone, near her heart. "Yours are here. I hope they've faded too."

"They haven't. Nobody sees them but you. Except one."

"You mean this one?" Emma ran her thumb lightly over Regina's upper lip where the tiny barely noticeable scar was. Regina kissed the thumb.

"Mother said it ruined my beauty. She feared for my marriageability and berated me over and over for jeopardising it."

"She was wrong," said Emma softly. "About your beauty and about you. She didn't know you at all."

"No, she did. But she had a plan mapped out for me and she didn't like knowing I wanted something else."

"How did you get the scar?" said Emma, hastily adding, "If you want to tell me. You said it didn't happen the way Ri got hers..."

"Daniel did it."

"What? Did he-"

"No, it was an accident," Regina was quick to say. "It happened the first day I met him at the stables. He was moving some saddles and he didn't see me, one of the buckles caught me in the face. He thought it was his fault and couldn't stop apologising. Mother was furious when she saw the gash. I knew she'd send the new stable boy away if she found out the truth so I made up a story about saving a cat up a tree. If I hadn't lied he would have went to live somewhere else and I wouldn't have gotten to love him and none of this would've happened. I wouldn't have you now. But he would have lived. His death started all of this."

"He gave you the scar that led to his death and now you see him every time you look in the mirror. That's why you like mirrors."

"Yes," whispered Regina painfully. "I don't even know how I'd look without it anymore."

Emma placed a gentle kiss on the scar, but Regina had other ideas and captured her bottom lip between her teeth. She kissed her again and gasped against her mouth.

"It's sensitive."

"The nerves in the scar? Still?"

"Yes. It feels more than the rest of my lip."

Emma kissed her cheekbone along her way to whisper a question in Regina's ear. She stroked her face and searched her eyes carefully. "Let's move this to the bedroom?"

"Finally. One of your ideas is actually a good one."

"I'm sure I'll have another good idea some day."

Regina echoed with a smile. "Yes, some day. Maybe."


	47. Morning

It was the weekend so of course Regina found her son sitting in the den in front of cartoons with a bowl of fruitloops for breakfast by the looks of it. That was an unfortunate liking that he'd picked up while he was living with Emma. Regina now had  _two_  people to try to convince about the importance of eating a healthy breakfast (or perhaps it was three, if Emma and Em were counted as different people). She had to put up with it because she'd installed the weekend-only rule herself and now had to follow through on it. It was intended as a compromise between her stricter parenting and Emma's laissez-faire style.

Henry looked up when he noticed her. "Hey, Mom."

"Good morning, Henry. Did you sleep well?"

"Yep."

"I'm sorry your mother and I weren't home in time to say goodnight. I hope the three of you managed to do some sleeping at your little sleepover last night. Were you good for the girls while we were gone?"

"Yes, Mom," he droned.

Regina was going to leave him to his cartoons when Henry paused the TV and called her back. Something in his tone made her think he wanted to talk or ask her something so she sat down next to him on the lounge.

"Mom? Where's Emma?"

"Upstairs. She's still asleep. I think the girls are too."

"It's just us then?"

Regina nodded, wondering where the conversation was going to go. She had her answer when he started to ask her all manner of questions about her relationship with Emma. He seemed particularly keen to hear whether she was really in love and whether she was really happy, but some of his questions skirted anxiously around determining whether she thought Emma was going to be around permanently. When she asked him if he missed his father he said that he did and seemed disappointed that Neal left. Emma had told her about her conversation with Henry, so she knew her son was worried about feeling abandoned. Apparently that was a common issue for children when their single parent started dating again.

"I like Emma living here with us," said Henry. "You never dated anyone before her. How come?"

"I didn't want to. I was - " Regina paused. "Afraid."

"But you're-" Henry's surprise turned sheepish. "You're the Evil Queen. I thought you weren't afraid of anything."

The truth was quite the opposite. Regina had never been so afraid in all her life as the day Emma Swan turned up in Storybrooke, ready to break the curse and take her son away from her. A fear which only grew as Emma and Henry got closer, both to each other and to the truth. The ground started crumbling under Regina's feet but she'd taken too many steps down a bad road to turn back. Realising that she felt something for the irritating new Sheriff had been too much to bear. Just the idea of potential happiness was fear-inducing in itself, a reminder of the last time she'd been happy in that way… and lost it all in an instant.

But everything had changed now. She'd found a way to have everything despite being afraid.

"You and Emma remind me why I'm doing this," said Regina softly.

Henry admitted in a small voice that he'd been afraid too. When he'd gone to live with Emma and everyone was saying that Regina was evil again. He hadn't wanted to believe it. He'd thought that his whole family was falling apart. But now it was ok because they were together.

"It's good to be home," said Henry. "I missed you when I was gone and living at Mary Margaret's. Nobody was awake when I used to get up early and it felt like I was alone."

"I missed you too. More than you can imagine."

"I had Emma though and you didn't have anyone. But now we both have her, don't we?"

"Henry, it might be hard for you to understand because of everything that's happened. But Emma is very important to me. I love her dearly."

Henry smiled in his particular lopsided way. "I told you she'd help you get your happy ending."

"Yes, you did."

Regina smiled too, especially pleased when Henry tucked himself under her wing for a hug. He asked question after question about Fairytale Land and life in a castle and was awed when she said that she used to ride into battle herself. He quizzed her about her magic too. It reminded her that she and Emma still hadn't sat Henry down for a talk about magic, but she was enjoying her son's company too much to spoil it right now.

* * *

Ri had been awake for a while, but she was still laying in bed with Em waiting for her to wake up. She toyed with the idea of waking her with a kiss but Em was lying with her back to her. As soon as the sleepy teen fidgeted, indicating that she was awake, Ri snuggled up against her back. Em was still half-asleep though and less than enthusiastic about it.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," said Ri.

"Yeah. Hi," said Em. "Yay for mornings."

"It looks like it might be a lovely day out. Maybe we could go for a walk with Henry later. Are you hungry yet? Do you want to get up and have breakfast? I'm sure Regina would make you those piggy strips if you want them."

Em groaned, stomach roiling at the thought. "Bacon? Ugh, no. Yuck."

"Oh, I thought you liked them."

"Not right now."

"Ok, something else then. Or maybe..." Ri trailed off softly. "Do you want to stay in bed a little while longer and do something else?"

"It's still early. I want to sleep."

"You've been tired a lot lately. Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine," said Em impatiently. "I just want to sleep."

She did sound rather tired and cranky. Em wasn't much of a morning person at the best of times. Ri thought she'd better not push it with more questions, but maybe a quiet cuddle was in order. She slipped her arm around Em's middle and accidentally pressed against her breast.

"Ow!" Em complained and curled herself up.

"Sorry," said Ri. She drew away, not entirely sure what she'd done wrong. "I didn't mean to. Are you sore? Is it time for your monthly flower?"

Em growled. "Ri! You're being annoying. It's too early for this. I should be asleep like all normal people. Go get your breakfast or find something to do until it's actually daytime."

"Okay, Crankypants!" Ri sang and threw off the covers on her side. "I'm sure Henry will be awake. He likes me better than you anyway."

"Good for you."

On her way out the door, Ri looked back at the bundle in the bed where the only visible part of her was long blonde hair. Apparently there was only so much coddling the other girl could take and Ri realised that she had been laying it on rather thick since the car accident. She knew Em wouldn't have fallen asleep again so quickly, especially in that kind of mood, so she left a few parting words by way of apology.

"I love you, Em, but I don't love how you're treating me right now. You've obviously woken up a bit cranky so I'll leave you be. I'll see you in a few hours when you're feeling better."

* * *

Emma stumbled sleepily into the kitchen with only one eye open where Regina and Henry were already dressed and apparently waiting for her to rise. She'd woken up alone in bed and had come downstairs to investigate the sound of dishes being clanked together. She had been tempted to sleep more but she was already awake now and lazing around without her bedmate would be too boring.

"What is all the noise?" mumbled Emma.

"Emma, you're awake!" said Henry. "Finally. We've been up for ages. We had breakfast without you."

Emma peered blearily at the microwave clock and let out a disgusted groan. It read 6.58am. "What the-? Why am I even awake. What are you guys doing up before seven on a Saturday?"

"Slept in," said Henry. "I usually get up at six for cartoons. Mom does too."

Emma plopped down at the kitchen bench, too sleepy to even process her disbelief at her progeny's being an early morning person. He'd woken up at some ungodly hour every morning when they'd been living at Mary Margaret's apartment, but she assumed that was just because his routine was out of whack and he was taking advantage of being outside the reach of his Mom's rules and schedule.

Regina smiled in amusement at her. She and Emma had gone to bed at a reasonable hour last night but they didn't do much sleeping at first.

"Coffee?" said Regina innocently.

"Yes," groaned Emma, holding her hand out. "Gimme."

Seeing as how Emma was reaching for the packet of coffee beans and would probably have eaten them raw, Regina snatched it away and went to the coffee machine to make it. But the steaming and grinding added a whole new cacophony of noises to the early morning.

Emma laid her head on arms on the bench. Her voice came out muffled. "This what you meant by torturing me, Regina?"

"What are we doing today?" asked Henry.

"Having breakfast, kid. That's as far as I've got planned ahead."

"I thought we could go for a walk to the park later," said Regina. "The weather is nice."

"Of course you have a plan for the day already," said Emma. "Can't we just see how it goes?"

Henry piped up. "Evil has to rise early and get a head start on the day. They always have to plan everything really carefully because no matter what they do Good always wins. That's why they need a good plan or else the story would never get off the ground. Isn't that right, Mom? Didn't you make a Convoluted Plot from your Evil Lair back in the olden times?"

"Yes, dear."

"Lay off calling your Mom evil, Henry," said Emma. "Although waking someone up this early on a Saturday morning definitely counts as evil in my opinion."

Regina placed a mug in front of Emma, who took it into her hands and sipped it eagerly.

"Ahh! Thankyou, milady, for this most appreciated gift. I knew there was a reason I loved you. You should've just asked me to go for a coffee date when we first met, instead of picking a series of fights with me to show off your big bad self. You've got a way to go before I forgive you for the early mornings though."

"You're weird, Emma," declared Henry.

"Why."

"You're really grumpy in the mornings."

"As if," Emma scoffed. "You guys are the weird ones. It is unnatural to be awake let alone to be so cheery at this hour on a Saturday. Normal people are still in bed."

"Nope." Henry shook his head triumphantly. "You're outnumbered. Mom and I are both up so you're the odd one out, Emma."

"Kid, you must've got switched at the hospital on me. He's all yours, Regina," Emma joked wearily.

Ri skipped into the kitchen looking every bit as bright-eyed as the other two Millses. Not only was the teen was already dressed like the others, she was dressed  _like_  Regina as well. They were both wearing black skirts and Ri's sweater was almost the same colour as her older self's blouse. Dressing similarly happened regularly between the two fashionable ladies, but the other two doubles often had fights in the morning over who got in first and was going to wear a particular shirt. Em and Emma had taken to hiding their favourite ones, but the trouble was they were both good at finding things and they both went for the same hiding spots anyway.

Ri said good morning to them all and then draped her arms around Henry's neck to kiss the top of his head.

"Hi Ri!" said Henry.

"Good morning, my little prince," said Ri. "What shall we do today?"

The two of them started chattering happily about the weekend and a trip to the park seemed to be on the agenda. Apparently Ri and Regina both independently came up with the same plan for the day.

"Now I'm really outnumbered," grumbled Emma. "No fair using your clone to gang up on me, Regina, especially when Em's not here. Hey, maybe we could have a Clone War between the girls! We'll throw them in a ring and have them fight it out. Em's a punk, but I bet Ri gets scrappy when she's mad. It'll be a good match."

"You're silly," Henry declared.

"Where's the Emma who's less annoying?" Regina asked Ri.

"Too grumpy to get up. She's gone back to sleep." Ri sounded a little hurt when she said it and it made Emma suspicious.

"Hey, don't worry about her," said Emma. "Teenagers need a lot of sleep. They grow out of it."

Regina raised an eyebrow at her pointedly. "When exactly are you going to?"

* * *

About an hour later, when she was dressed and much more awake Emma found Ri sitting outside in the yard. She went over to sit down next to her. The teen looked pensive and lost in thought as she picked and played with blades of grass. They sat together for a little while, enjoying the morning sun.

"Hey Ri," said Emma. "You ok? Or do you want some time to yourself."

"I'm ..." Ri shrugged, still looking at the ground. "I don't know."

"You can tell me if there's something bothering you."

Ri's voice was small. "I feel a little homesick I suppose. I've been here for quite a number of weeks now. I miss home. Oh, I love being here with all of you - with Em and Henry especially - but I miss my family too. Most of all I miss things making sense. This world is so confusing, every day I feel like I'm so behind everyone else. I don't know where I fit in."

"Yeah, that's what comes with being a teenager. Just a part of growing up I guess. You'll find your special place in the world one day, Ri. For now, we love having you here with us. Someone has to keep Em out of too much trouble," Emma joked.

Ri still looked uncertain and she bit her lip. She said it in a rush before she could stop herself. "We had sex!"

"Oh-"

"Don't be mad," begged Ri. "You can't tell anyone I told you! Please, don't. I couldn't bear it everyone knew -"

"Shh it's ok, I'm not mad. It's your decision, it always has been. I just didn't want you to get talked into doing it before you were ready and then regret it. I promise I won't tell anyone you told me. Not even Regina or Em."

"Ok," Ri exhaled. "Thankyou, Emma."

"So." Emma smiled. "What did you think? Do you feel ok about it?"

With that question, the words poured out of Ri... How she felt about Em and how their relationship had changed now in so many ways. It was more amazing and pleasurable than she'd ever thought it could be. Em had been so gentle with her and she hoped that Em had enjoyed herself too. She said she felt lucky to have found Em, when her future self's past said that her first experience wasn't going to be any good for her at all in comparison to this one. After going on about how wonderful it was Ri finally came to all the things she was worrying about. She wanted to explore this new side to herself further but everything she knew from back home about the social consequences of it nagged at the back of her mind.

Emma eased her worries as best she could and told her that everything she was thinking and feeling was perfectly ok.

"I want to do it again." Ri blushed as she made the confession. "But I'm not sure whether Em does."

Emma did a double-take. "Wait. We are talking about the same Em Swan right? Teenager, crazy in love with you, looks like me but is even more annoying?"

Ri shrugged. "Usually she starts these things. She hasn't since the first time. I think something's bothering her."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. It's a new thing for both of you."

"Maybe she doesn't want to. Maybe it wasn't good enough for her because I'm inexperienced..."

"Oh no, Ri. It is definitely not that. I know because you two are a lot like Regina and I and the first time we had sex it was amazing. Because it was us."

Ri protested. "But Regina knows more about it than I do."

"That doesn't matter. It's more about how you feel and how you communicate with your partner than memorising ten different sex positions. The thing is, even if you've had several partners the first time having sex with a new person is still the first time you're having sex with  _them_ and everyone's different. You'll get to know what they like as you go. You guys will get better at it."

"You mean it gets  _better_? By the way, Mary Margaret told me there were more than ten ways to do it. Is that true?"

Emma blinked once and gaped. "That… is something I did not need to know about my parents."

Ri giggled at her reaction. "I know. It's funny because they're so old."

" _Old_? I'm the same age as them!"

Although annoyed at the teenager's implication that her age of 28-nearly-29 was classified as "old", Emma was glad to see the young girl looking much happier than when she'd first sat down. How strange it was to try to remember what it was like being eighteen, when you used to worry about all sorts of things and struggle to work out what it all meant.

Emma had heard in more detail about what Regina had gone through when she'd been not much older than Ri and even though she'd been resolute in staying strong and calm for Regina's sake while she listened… inside she was a boiling fire of indignation and hatred for Cora and the King. The thought of it made her sick that he'd been Regina's first, or even at all. Ever since Emma had begun to suspect that Ri and Em were doing more than just fooling around together she'd wanted to cheer for them (especially Regina's younger self) for getting a chance to rewrite the past.

Regina had confessed something surprising to Emma last night. Something Emma didn't want Ri to have to wait that long to discover on her own...

They didn't always have sex when they were seeking intimacy, even at night when they were in bed alone. Sometimes they just talked or kissed or held each other for the closeness of it. But when they did have sex it could be anything from quick and intense to the slow-burn of all-night lovemaking.

Regina had slipped and called her 'Miss Swan' last night. Half of Emma thought it was hilarious but the other half remembered how hot she'd been for the Mayor last year and decided to run with it. They'd both kept to their roles, pretending it was last year when they'd only just met… but in the fantasy all the reasons that'd kept them apart in real-life got thrown out. Afterwards, Emma hadn't been able to keep a straight face and she'd made some joke that Regina couldn't help laughing at either...

_"I didn't know that it could be like this,"_   _Regina confessed softly when their laughter died down._

_"What do you mean?" said Emma. They lay together in bed. It must've been late at night or possibly early morning, but the bedroom lights were on low._

_"You know I took Graham as a lover but I never loved him. He was safe. I didn't have to risk my heart or my body. After a while it became a habit, it was an empty pleasure for both of us I think. Somehow I knew that it would be different when there was love involved. But one thing I didn't know, one of the many things that being with you has shown me, is that it can be fun as well as pleasurable. I… didn't know." Regina almost sounded embarrassed to lay herself open about such a thing._

_Emma was giddy with happiness at the touching confession. "You like it when I make you laugh?"_

_"I suppose. You say so many stupid things, dear."_

_"Good. Cos I don't think I could stop being hilarious."_

_Regina was still too blissed out to do more than give her a Look across the pillows._

_"Hey, Regina. You're probably going to think I'm just asking to be annoying, after I caught you and Em talking about it in your office, but are you ok with our sex life? I mean, do you want something… else?"_

_"Do you think that because I'm evil I need whips and chains?"_

_"Um… no?"_

_"Because I don't need any of that to torture you."_

_"That doesn't exactly reassure me," Emma said uneasily._

_"Good. It's not supposed to."_

_"What about you, dear," whispered Regina in her most seductive voice. "Do you want to do something else?"_

_"Guess what came in the mail today," Emma blurted out. "Remember I said there were some ah, things we could try?"_

_Regina narrowed her eyes dangerously. "You ordered it to my house?"_

_"It's just a plain brown box in the mail. It's not like it had 'LESBIAN SEX TOY' written on the outside. The mailman's scared enough to come here as it is. Besides, you should be more worried about the fact that I used your credit card."_

_"You'd better not have, for your own safety. I don't want some inappropriate website name appearing on my credit card statement."_

_"Relax, it was ebay. The seller listed it as 'used' but it'd only been used once or twice before they broke up. It's practically brand new. Total bargain."_

_Regina sent her the filthiest I'm-going-to-murder-you glare that she had ever seen on her. But Emma was long past the point where she'd ever be scared of the Evil Queen. Especially now, lying in bed next to her lithe naked form wearing only the bedsheet, after having thrown her off the cliff of ecstasy. Regina probably didn't have the energy to murder anyone right now as much as she was trying with just her eyes._

_Emma burst out laughing_.

_"Oh my god, Regina. Your face! Oh, that's hilarious. I got you so bad!"_

_Regina grabbed the nearest pillow and smacked her with it, but Emma was laughing so hard she couldn't get enough air and every time she tried to talk Regina would hit her again and she tried to fend her off rather ineffectually with her hands raised._

_"Oh God, sto-" Emma gasped, still in fits of laughter. She swiped at the tangles of hair that had flown into her face._

_Thwack._

_"It was a joke! I'm sorry! I promise it's-"_

_Thwack._

_"-new! Bought it off-"_

_Thwack._

_"- ever again. Only the best for you of course, my Queen!"_

_Regina stopped her assault for a second and Emma took the opportunity to snatch the pillow quickly. She threw it away and then reached for Regina to pull her back down on top of her, both of them laughing and exhausted..._

Ri was still giggling so Emma poked her in the side and pulled her into a hug.

"Call me old while you still can, young lady," teased Emma. "One day you're going to be much older than me. Regina was not amused when I pointed that out. This whole curse thing has made me totally re-evaluate my thoughts on May-December relationships...

"The thing is, Ri. Sex can be a lot of fun when you trust the other person. You can laugh and have a good time, which especially helps when it's not going well."

Ri looked confused at the idea. "What do you mean 'not going well'? I thought it was supposed to be good when there's love."

"The first time you have sex is not going to be the best ever. Even for a couple who usually have great sex it's not always perfect. Sometimes you try something and it doesn't work for you or for your partner. Sometimes one of you isn't feeling into it that day for whatever reason. It just happens."

"That happens to you and Regina?"

"Mm sometimes," said Emma, with a smile. "But you know what? When things aren't perfect it makes the happy ending all the sweeter."

Ri certainly looked much happier after hearing that.

* * *

The next day Regina was elbow-deep in paperwork in her home office even though it was Sunday. She was sitting on the settee in her office with paperwork spread out on the low coffee table in front of her.

In addition to her usual work tasks, having to manage her election campaign was overflowing her normal work hours. Thankfully Kathryn had offered to help with the budget (the Mayor was financing it herself) and was also organising some advertising. Her help was invaluable and it left Regina with more time to devote to public appearances and interviews in which she'd take the opportunity to put forward her campaign issues.

Clearly she had enough experience for the position and in another time and place her campaign would've been a solid lock… but Regina hadn't actually had to do it for real before. She'd been Mayor for as long as anyone could remember, the haze of the curse prevented anyone from opposing the terms.

The most significant problem was that local prejudice and her past would always be working against her. It wouldn't matter how sincerely she presented herself or how much she focused on doing what was best for Storybrooke and its families, her reign as the Evil Queen (murderer, torturer, caster of curses) would always be first in voters' minds.

Dr Hopper had suggested to her that one way to deal with it was to reveal the details of her past in order to mitigate her actions somewhat. It was a risk but it might payoff in sympathy. She'd declined semi-politely. Daniel, her marriage, her childhood... they were topics she would much rather not revisit and certainly not publicly.

There was far too much reminder of her past at the moment with Ri in Storybrooke.

Yesterday afternoon all five of them had gone for a walk to the park. Ri and Henry had fun chasing each other around and it was hard to tell who enjoyed the play equipment more (Regina had never done much playing as a child). Em trailed after them, lacking her usual energy and cheer. When Regina brought it to Emma's notice all she did was shrug and make some offhand remark about Em being in one of her moody moods.

Regina looked up from the notepad where she was jotting notes for a speech and saw that Em had wandered into the room.

"Sorry. You're busy," Em mumbled.

Regina smiled. "Not too busy for you, dear. Why don't you come sit with me for a while?"

Em came over to lay on the seat next to her and snuggled up to her side. She must have been seeking a bit of comfort because she seemed a bit low in spirit. The teenager looked over Regina's lap to see what she was working on.

"Everything ok, Em? Are you still tired."

"A little."

"Did Henry keep you two up all night talking again? Next time send him to his own bed or none of you will get to sleep. I suppose I'm ok with it given that it wasn't a school night for him. Make sure you get a good rest too, Em. Believe me, children have a way of tiring you out. I appreciate you babysitting him for us on Friday night and I'm so proud of you, you've grown into such a responsible young woman lately. But you don't have to act as Henry's mother yet, you're still young yourself and taking care of a child can be emotionally draining."

"How did you know what to do?" Em asked quietly. "When you adopted Henry. How did you know how to be a good Mom?"

"Oh." Regina stopped what she was writing and smiled, surprised by the question. "I didn't. I'd never even held a baby before but as soon as Henry was put in my arms it felt like… fate. Like he was always mine."

"He is yours."

"He'll be yours too one day. It annoyed me a lot at the time, but when Emma first came here she clicked with him straight away. Henry was still angry at me about finding out he was adopted. I was hurt because, well, I didn't click with my son straight away. It wasn't easy. It certainly wasn't perfect. I was miserably tired and for the first weeks he cried and cried. I had no idea what I was doing wrong and I started to think that I couldn't cope."

"So if you weren't happy why didn't you send him back? I had a foster family once and they sent me back."

"I couldn't let him go. It was too late. He'd already wiggled his way into my heart. I wanted to be his mother more than I wanted to go on breathing. I knew that I had to put him first, above anything else that I was feeling."

Regina stopped short of saying that she didn't want him to be abandoned again like he had been by his birth mother. That was what she'd felt at the time as well as up until recently when she'd heard more about the turmoil Emma had gone through in making that decision. If Emma hadn't given him up then Regina would never have become Henry's mother, and if Regina hadn't kept him then Emma would never have become Henry's mother either. In yet another way they were joined as parents.

"Can I tell you something?" asked Em. She fidgeted, playing with the pocket of her hoodie.

"Of course."

"I'm scared of having the baby. I'm scared of being alone for so long until I find him again. I feel like I have to give him up and I'm afraid that I'm going to do the wrong thing. I don't even know what the right thing is. I don't want him to hate me."

"You don't have to be scared, Em," Regina smiled. "You won't have to be alone forever, they will be waiting for you. Ri won't be able to turn you away and Henry most certainly won't let her. He will understand when he's older. It isn't certain as to what your future holds if things are changing here. Whatever you decide, it will be entirely your choice. When the time comes you will know."

"I guess so. There's something else too…" said Em, pretending to be shy. "I have the biggest, most pathetic, highly embarrassing crush on you, Regina."

Regina laughed and wrapped her arm around Em's shoulders. Em smiled up at her cheekily.

"Yes, dear. I had noticed that."

"Good. Ok, pretty lady, I'll stop bugging you and let you get back to work." Em jumped up and left the office.

Regina sighed to herself, thinking about both versions of the most important woman in her life.  _Emma Swan. You always were a charmer. Or perhaps it's just me and I'm weak for you at any age_. She went back to working on the speech and trying to anticipate what questions the reporters would ask.

"Knock knock."

Regina looked up to see Emma smiling in the doorway, holding a mug of coffee in her hand and Cora's book of magic spells in the other. The smell of vanilla and coffee preceded her when she came in and offered her the mug. Regina took the drink gratefully, surprised and yet not-at-all surprised by the thoughtful gesture.

"I noticed that my girlfriend is working too hard so I came in to encourage her to take a break," said Emma.

"I don't have time to take the sort of break you're angling for," said Regina wryly. "Certainly not in the afternoon while the children are in the house."

"I came to bring you  _coffee_ , Regina, not my muffin. Besides, you were the one who brought it up… I don't think I'm the one with sexytimes on her mind."

"I'm working." Regina set down her notes and took her first sip of coffee. "Thankyou, darling. I knew there was a reason why I allow your existence to continue. At times such as these I'm relieved that I didn't succeed in running you out of my town. One day you might finally make up for all of the trouble you've caused me."

Emma grabbed one of the ever-present apples from the bowl on the table and took a huge bite. She laid down on the settee and draped herself obnoxiously over Regina's lap, earning her a raised eyebrow. A pair of leather boots was crossed over the furthest armrest. The two women could have been cuddled up together on the lounge, reading or watching TV in the exact same pose.

"What are you doing with my mother's book?" said Regina.

"Research," said Emma. "I was looking through your hocus-pocus books for something that might help us with the border shrinking/not-shrinking thing and the time travelling teenagers. Have you got any more stuff stashed in your Evil Lair?"

"If you mean my vault, then yes. In addition to magical objects, potion ingredients, and my two-headed Agrabahan viper. Dangerous things from other worlds that no-one should go near."

"You've got a double-ended what in your vault, Regina?" Emma raised her eyebrows twice in a suggestive manner.

Regina tsk'd. "Must you do that. Turn everything into sexual innuendo?"

"Yes, I must. By the way, what version of the English language is your Mom's book written in anyways? I'm having trouble reading it."

"It's written in magic of course. As you are magical yourself, Saviour, it ought to become clearer for you if you coax it. It is inscrutable to all non-magical people. However, I'd advise you not to experiment with my mother's dark spells if you don't know what you are doing. They are hard on the system. You must make sure to keep your self separate from the magic you are using and not overextend it. I've noticed you doing that unconsciously when you access your powers, thankfully, so I assume it comes naturally to you."

Emma shrugged and held up the book. "Why is this page missing?"

That peaked Regina's attention. Her mother had always protected her spell book with the utmost care and slept with it under her pillow. It was hardly ever out of her sight. When it came into Regina's hands she'd treated it with a similar reverence, though hers were based on apprehension of its power rather than worship.

"There shouldn't be any pages missing," said Regina. "Which one is it?"

"Er, it's missing, genius," Emma joked. "How would I know what was on it?

"Smartass," Regina muttered.

She took the book from Emma and ran a thumb over the rough stub sticking out of the binding, the remnant of page that had been torn out. From it's position she knew which one it was.

"I remember this page. It was the Barrier spell. My mother used one to keep me from escaping my impending marriage. It's the same sort of magic I used for creating the border around Storybrooke to prevent anyone from leaving town."

Emma sat up quickly and gaped at her. "This is it then! It has to be related to what's happening with the border. Could someone have used this spell to mess with the town line? Can you cast it again to fix it?"

"Not without the page. Curses must be cast from originals, they can't be copied or memorised."

"So someone stole it. Who would do that? Who had access to this book besides you?"

"No-one. It's been locked up in my house since I got it from Mr Gold. Besides, it's no use to anyone who doesn't have magic because they wouldn't even be able to read it, let alone get any of the curses to work properly."

"So that narrows it down to someone who can: 1) use magic, and 2) get into your house undetected. Maybe I ought to arrest myself," Emma joked.

"I'd be happy to put handcuffs on you, Emma," Regina offered nonchalantly. "But right now I have to get back to work."

Emma sighed loudly in an overly dramatic manner. She got up off the settee and dragged her feet towards the door. "Alright. I'll stop bugging you. For a little while at least."

Regina was already working on her notes again and didn't even look up. "I'll let you 'bug' me later. Provided that you leave now and let me get some work done that is."

Emma was out the door like a shot.


	48. Trust

_Sunday evening, 108 Mifflin St_

Regina took in the sight of the pair of teenagers who were sitting on the couch three feet apart (which was about three feet more than the usual distance between them). Both of them had their arms crossed and wore frowns, determinedly avoiding each other's eye contact.

The girls' behaviour towards each other had been deteriorating throughout the weekend culminating in this awkward standoff. Strangely, they hadn't sought to be completely away from each other though - they weren't talking much or hanging all over each other like usual - but they also hadn't retreated to separate rooms either. Even now they still preferred to be relatively near each other.

Regina asked, "What's wrong?"

"They're fighting," declared Emma.

Em glared at the ceiling. "We are not fighting."

"Certainly not," said Ri.

Emma nearly laughed and shot a look at Regina who was standing to her side in the archway. "Do you ever get this weird deja vu feeling? Kinda like looking into a mirror or something? They are so fighting."

"I'd say it's more of a tiff. Maybe a spat," said Regina.

"They are definitely in a snit with each other."

Regina decoded the expression on Ri's face and her body language. "It looks like I'm annoyed that you're not paying much attention to me. But actually I'm a little hurt."

Emma nodded, examining her own double. "I'm preoccupied with trying to figure something out. I'm afraid to tell you though."

Em faked a yawn. "Hey, old people, are you finished with your jedi mind tricks?"

"Sounds accurate to me, Em Swan," said Ri hoity-toitily. "You  _are_  holding back from me."

"Ugh, Ri, my life revolves around you and you're pissed that I ignored you because I wanted some time to myself for  _one_  morning?"

"That's not why I'm upset," said Ri quietly.

"Oh for god's sake, you're such a girl sometimes. You never let anything go."

Ri's face turned petulant. She grabbed one of the cushions off the couch and tossed it at Em, but all it did was bounce off the other girl's lap and fell to the floor.

"Hey!" said Emma, frowning at the pair. "What the hell is this! If you're going to fight, learn to fight fair. You-" she pointed at Em. "Don't say shitty things like that. Especially when you don't mean them."

Regina pinned a look on her own younger self. "And you - don't throw things like a spoiled child just because you aren't getting your own way."

Emma and Regina were perplexed by their younger selves' fight. The irony was of course, that the girls' dirty fighting tactics were exactly the same as theirs. These days Emma's snark cut deeper and involved more four letter words and Regina was more likely to throw glasses or fireballs than cushions. They could recognise what their own self was feeling but they didn't really know specifically what had caused the fight or what it was even about. Their old strategy of each taking either their younger self or their younger opposite aside to have a chat wasn't going to cut it here.

Emma had a better idea.

"Alright. Regina and I are taking Henry over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner. As weird as that still sounds. You two are staying here so that you can talk and sort this out now."

Ri didn't like the suggestion much. "You're leaving us here alone?"

"You are such a hypocrite, Emma," Em said crossly. "You and Regina were fighting for a week before you made up. We helped you. We didn't make you talk before you were ready."

"That's because we're old. You two aren't. Do us a favour and learn to communicate properly now."

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment_

Emma was sitting at the bench in the kitchen across from where Mary Margaret was putting the finishing touches on the meal preparation. It was her mother's idea to get everyone together regularly for a Sunday night family dinner. She hadn't realised how much she'd missed out on growing up until now. This kind of everyday happiness would always be bittersweet but she couldn't bear the thought of having to go without it anymore.

Ever since she'd moved out Emma felt a little awkward to be always going over to visit her parents' so often. She was a grown adult and though there was no getting her childhood back, she wanted to make up for some lost time. But she didn't want to be too clingy about it and she wondered if it was normal.

Ruby had told her that it wasn't a big deal, she was still living with her grandmother herself and the one time when she'd "run away" all she could think of was going home. Ashley told her that even after all the trouble she'd had with both her Stepmother and her father-in-law, she and Sean still saw them a lot (mostly because of an olive branch in the form of baby Alexi). Emma intended to casually survey Kathryn's opinion too but hadn't heard back from her.

It seemed family could survive many conflicts.

Regina had summed up the issue with her usual candour.  _"You are irritatingly childish in many ways, Emma, but wanting to spend time with your family isn't one of them."_

So here they were, all together again. One big happy family. Sort of.

In the background over her shoulder, Henry was asking David and Regina questions about Fairytale Land and what really happened in their backstory.

"That is not how it happened, Charming," said Regina, rolling her eyes.

"Oh really?" said David, gearing up to full argument. "The entire menu was apple dishes! Who else would do that?"

"I have better things to do than bother myself with trivialities like your menus. I have no idea who was sending bushels of apples to the cooks who were preparing your wedding breakfast. I can't imagine where they got the idea that apples are Snow's favourite food."

Henry burst out laughing. "Mom, that's horrible."

Regina shrugged with a blank expression, but the arguments continued because Henry was deliberately inflaming the situation for his own amusement.

_I swear, sometimes that kid is Regina's clone_. _He's like an experiment in nature versus nurture. I see so much of myself in him, yet so many of his expressions and mannerisms belong to her. And right now he is being an epic little troll. Don't have to wonder where he picked THAT up._

"Earth to Emma!" said Mary Margaret, jolting her out of her inner thoughts.

"Ah, what?" said Emma, turning back around. "Sorry. What'd you say?"

"I said where are the girls?"

"The teenyboppers? At home, having a punchup probably. That or bawling their eyes out."

Mary Margaret looked worried suddenly. "What? Why."

"Oh, pfff. They're in a snit over something. Baby dyke drama."

"Emma!"

"Ok ok." Emma sighed. "They're just having a little fight so we left them there alone, hoping that it'll give them a chance to talk properly. Otherwise it'll escalate: Ri will fume silently and plot something to make Em miserable, and Em will go out of her way to piss Ri off until she does something to make her snap. And then they'll make us all miserable as collateral damage."

"That does sound familiar," said Mary Margaret wryly. She started unwrapping the garlic bread out of the foil and spread out the pieces on a plate. She called out to the others to come to the table and started transferring the dinner plates over.

Emma's phone beeped with a new message so she took it out of her back pocket to read and reply to the sender:

**Grumpy Leroy:** _Not good news, kiddo. The border's on the move again._

_Shit! How fast?_

**Grumpy Leroy:** _It jumped forward again. Happy was on duty at the time. Now he's not so happy, he's lost his mind. He keeps saying dumb things and posting them on twitter. That's three dwarves down!_

_Ok. Thanks for the info. Sorry about your friend. Maybe take away his phone for a while._

Emma stared at her phone with a vague unease churning in her stomach. If she told her parents about it her mother would ream her out again for still doing nothing about the border problem. She didn't want to say anything until she and Regina had a chance to talk to Henry and ask if he knew something about the missing page from Cora's book. They were still no closer to figuring out what to do though. Time was slipping away and she couldn't put it off forever.

"Who was that?" said Mary Margaret.

"Uh, nothing," said Emma with a false smile. She hastily tucked her phone back in her pocket. "Miss Ginger's complaining about the neighbour's kids getting into her backyard. She keeps threatening to cook them and eat them."

"Come on then. Dinner's ready. No phones at the table, young lady."

* * *

Neither of the girls had moved. Or said anything. Ri's patience ran out for waiting any longer for Em to kick things off.

"So," Ri blew out a breath. "We're alone. Do you want to talk?"

Em pleaded. "Not now, Ri."

"Ok," said Ri, with a weak shrug. "Then… I don't know what to do here. I feel like there's something you're not telling me and it's really affecting you. What can I do?"

"Nothing. It's not like I have to tell you absolutely everything."

"I know. But if it's something important bothering you maybe just talking about it will help you feel better. Or if it's something to do with us then can't you see that it's going to cause problems in our relationship?"

"Or," said Em sarcastically. "I could tell you and ruin everything."

"Am I really such an evil person that you can't confide in me? Do you think I'm going to judge you or hate you for whatever it is?"

"No."

"Then what!" Ri cried. "Is it something to do with what happened between us? When we made love for the first time? Maybe it was you that wasn't ready yet. Do you regret it now? Were you disappointed?"

"No! No, of course not. How could you think that? I loved it. I love you."

"What else am I supposed to think? You haven't tried anything since and I don't know how to initiate these things or if you even want me to. I'm not sure if I've done something wrong. I've always been a little naive and afraid but you've taught me that I can speak up whenever I feel I need to. I think I can imagine now what Regina might've went through and instead you gave me the most beautiful experience I could ever imagine and I felt safe with you the entire time. Because I trust you. I want you to feel safe with me. When you're hurting I feel it too. What is going on in your head, Em? I love you, you can be honest with me. I know it's hard for you to trust anyone but don't you trust  _me_?"

Em sighed and covered her face. "I miss you so much."

"I'm right here!"

They weren't getting anywhere but they were both becoming more upset. Emotions were running high. They were young and at the age where everything that went wrong seemed like the end of the world. Em was biting her lip in a vain effort to stop her chin wobbling, trying desperately not to cry. Ri already had a wet face and eyes full of tears.

Ri got up to leave. "I can't do this anymore. I'm going outside to watch the sunset. I'm sure it will be romantic and it'd be really nice if - if I had my g-girlfriend to sit with," she finished with a sob.

"What do you mean 'if you had your girlfriend'?" said Em.

"I think we need a break from each other for a little while. You're hurting me. I can't be around you right now."

Em's face crumpled. "Fine! Why don't you go and leave me alone then. You're just like everyone else. I don't care what you do and I don't want to be around you either."

Em grabbed the xbox controller angrily and turned the TV on to play the video game that was paused. The volume crashed into the formerly quiet room, a riot of game music and sound effects that couldn't quite drown out the rest of the world.

Ri snatched the TV remote back off the coffee table and hit the OFF button. She threw it behind the couch so that Em would have to crawl over to find it and then stormed out of the room in a teary huff.

* * *

The sunset probably would've been beautiful at any other time, but tonight all the colours seemed dim. Ri sat out on the back porch for as long as she could tolerate. It's not like she had anything else to do. With Em not talking to her and Henry and the others gone from the house she didn't know what to do with herself.

Ri went inside to heat up leftovers in the microwave for dinner. She couldn't hear the video game music playing from the den anymore. Then Em came in, maybe to check she was getting the appliance to work or maybe it was to see what she was up to. Em had her hands stuffed in her pockets and clearly she still had her walls up.

"Um, you alright?" said Em, not able to meet her eye. "With the microwave."

"Yes," said Ri. "I'll heat yours up too if you want?"

"Yeah, uh ... maybe we can have dinner together and watch the sunset now?"

Ri's brow creased. "It's dark."

"Oh." Em coloured with embarrassment. "Right. Yeah, of course it is."

The microwave dinged and Ri grabbed a tea towel to retrieve the plate of steaming food. The smell of beef stirfry hit the air. She set the plate on the counter and went to get Em's plate out of the fridge to heat up as well. She was actually starting to get the hang of these modern conveniences now.

She looked up just in time to see Em run out of the kitchen with her hand clapped over her mouth. Ri heard the upstairs bathroom door close. She thought it was strange, but Em had been acting strange for a while and she didn't know what to make of her hot-and-cold behaviour. Three seconds ago she'd wanted them to sit and eat together and now she'd run away. Ri was confused, but she was still hurt that Em wouldn't talk to her about whatever it was.

Ri sighed and put the other plate back in the fridge.

Em didn't come back so Ri ended up eating her dinner alone, which was just as lonely as it sounded. She cleaned up after herself. Then in lieu of something to do she decided to get ready for bed early so she put on her Snoopy PJs and brushed her teeth.

When she went upstairs to her bed there was somebody already in it. Somebody who was sobbing her heart out. Ri wasn't sure if Em would want her company right now, but the thought of knowing she was upset but not going to console her was painful. She figured that if Em really didn't want her to come to her she would've gone to her own bed and not left the door wide open.

Ri slipped into the room quietly and crouched beside the bed. She took Em's hand to let her know she was there. Em gripped her hand tightly and for a long time she was still crying hard with her face buried in the pillow. Her glasses were sitting on the bedside table.

She'd never seen Em so distraught. She'd seen her cry of course, but never so desperately that her entire body was heaving with uncontrollable sobs. It made her feel powerless and heartbroken to see the one she loved in such a state.

"I- d-don't want to do this!" Em gasped. "I'm alone."

"No, you aren't," said Ri. "I'm here. Em, sweetheart, don't cry so. You'll make yourself sick."

"I was already sick."

"Are you ok?" asked Ri gently.

"Yeah." Em gulped and swiped at her wet face with her free hand. "I'm feeling a bit better now. This is such a rort - it's not even morning. And why can't I stop crying! I feel yuck at random times of the day. The smell of meat makes me want to throw up. Even you smell weird, like the sweetest, most sugary thing in all the world. I'm so tired I could sleep forever and my boobs really  _really_  hurt. Google said it's all normal but it's totally getting me down. This sucks!"

"Um ok." Ri was confused by the list of complaints, or what she was supposed to say in commiseration. "I'm sorry I was mean to you when you're feeling sickly."

"No, it's not you. I'm sorry about before. I know I'm being weird and not making much sense. I knew this was coming but it didn't help at all. I'm so afraid. I got angry at you for no reason. I feel so alone, like I have this huge responsibility that I can't deal with and I'm just a stupid kid who doesn't know anything about anything. I don't think I can do it. But I don't want to keep the truth from you anymore, Ri. I can't. Even if it messes up the future. You deserve to know…"

"You can tell me anything," said Ri softly.

"I'm pregnant."

Ri was shocked. The words knocked her back from her crouch and she landed on her butt on the floor with a thud. She squeaked, "What?!"

"You know, 'with child' or whatever they used to call it in olden times. A baby on the way."

" _Now_?!"

"Not right this second. But soon - ish."

"I- but-" Ri shook her head slowly, trying to process the news. "How?"

"Please don't ask. Anything but that. I can't tell you."

"Ok." Ri breathed in. "Oh my goodness. Um, how do you know? How long have you known?"

"The doctor told me at the hospital after the car accident. I'm about three weeks into it now. Ri, you're freaking me out with the staring. You're looking at me like I'm a radioactive mutant."

"I don't know what that is.  _Are_  you a radioactive mutant? Is that how this happened?"

Em couldn't help laughing through her tears. "No! Aw Ri. Stop being cute. This is serious."

"I know! This is scary, I'm freaking out too. I don't understand."

"I thought Mary Mar - um, my Mom explained to you about sex and biology and stuff?"

"Yes, she did. That's why I'm confused. But  _how_ …? Em, were ... w-were you with someone other than me?"

Em looked physically sick again. "Ri. You know I love you. Do you think I could do that to you?"

"No," Ri said shakily. "Actually, maybe it doesn't matter right now. I think I don't care how it happened. I'm only concerned about you and the baby. What do we do? What can I do to help you?"

"I have no idea! I don't want anyone to know yet. Please. You can't tell the others, they'll lose their shit. This is only between us for now, ok?"

Ri nodded and took a deep breath. She was still staring at Em in wonder, like maybe she was magical, or like a miracle that was happening before her very eyes. She couldn't tear her eyes away. She couldn't comprehend the enormity of this thing that was happening to them. But it was an amazing wonderful beautiful thing. The most exciting terrifying thing she'd ever heard. Their future child was on his way...

When she realised what it meant, Ri gasped and pointed at Em's middle. "It's Henry! Right?"

"Yes." Em nodded. "I mean, I think so. I assume so. Emma got pregnant at seventeen too. I feel like it's him. I've felt this connection to him lately, I can't explain it. Like I want to protect him with my life and give him everything I can. I love him something crazy."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Ri pleaded. "Is this what you've been torturing yourself about for the last few days? Oh Em, why didn't you tell me."

"It's stupid now," she mumbled.

"No, it isn't. If you were worried about it."

"I thought…" Em's voice was tiny and insecure. She kept her eyes downcast and fiddled with her shirt. "I started thinking that maybe you just wanted the baby. That you'd take him one day and forget all about me. I thought you wouldn't want me around anymore. Everyone wants babies because they're cute and they have potential. No-one wants older kids, especially when they're troubled. I didn't want to be replaced. You're the only person I've ever had of my own. I'm afraid of losing you."

"You won't lose me. Em, I could never forget you. I love you with all my heart and you're doing something amazing for us both. What I want more than anything in the world is the three of us to be a family."

Em looked up, hopeful for the first time in ages. "A family?"

Ri smiled happily. "Yes! Our own little family. I don't care how long it takes, we'll get there."

"But Ri, we don't really belong here. What happens when we have to go back? I won't remember. Emma didn't."

"Try not to worry about things that haven't happened yet. Let's be happy for now."

"I don't want to get too used to making a home here only to lose it one day soon. It'll be hard to go back to having nothing again."

"We're getting a chance that Emma and Regina never had. We get to share this with each other. Our little baby boy. Oh Em, we've been here for so long already. What if we never go back? What if we stay here for good? You and I can do this. We can, I promise. Let me take care of you and the baby?"

* * *

The teenagers spent a long time talking things over, trying not to worry too much about the specifics of their future and instead focusing on the gift they'd been given. Em opened up to Ri about the torrent of emotions she'd felt upon getting the news of her pregnancy and told her more about how different she felt physically and emotionally now. Ri's imagination started running away with her and she listed all her fantasies and hopes and dreams for their baby. Em was a bit more practical but whenever she could put aside the weirdness of it, deep down she loved the idea of having someone who would always be a part of her. An actual blood relation. Someone who would never leave her.

It was odd because they already knew their son and loved him for the person he was so they didn't wonder what the baby would be like as many prospective parents do. They were both still kids themselves so they had no idea what they would be truly in for and it was all a bit unreal.

Em was in the bathroom while Ri was waiting in bed still daydreaming. She'd gone to brush her teeth and change clothes into just her pyjama top and underwear. When she came back Ri was still alternating between freaking out and giddy happiness. Currently it was the latter.

"I'm so excited!" Ri squealed with her fists under her chin. "I can't wait."

Em smiled ruefully and shook her head. "I can. He's gotta cook for a while yet. Ugh, I'm going to get huge by the end of this."

"You'll still be my beautiful girl, darling."

Em turned the lights down low and got into bed with her so they could cuddle. Ri curled up to her side carefully after Em warned her not to squish her breasts since they were still sore. She put her arms around Em and settled one of her palms on her bare still-flat stomach. Em smiled at her again and moved the hand a bit lower to the right place, where the baby actually was.

"Love you lots," murmured Em.

"I love you too."

Ri sat up and leaned over to place a kiss on Em's stomach near her bellybutton. She whispered against her skin, telling the baby that they loved him too and then she looked up at Em with such an expression of pure love and joy that it was breathtaking. Em pulled her back into her arms and sighed.

"Ri, I'm sorry you were hurt because you thought I wasn't interested in you anymore after we had sex. It definitely wasn't because I was disappointed. You believe me now that it wasn't that - right?"

"Yes. You had a lot on your mind. I can't imagine how hard this has been for you."

It was Em's turn to sound uncertain. "Actually I was kinda thinking that you might've been disappointed."

"No, why would you think that?"

"Because… um, I was wondering... if I can make it better for you? You were kinda quiet and... Is that just you? Or is it usually more intense when you uh - I mean, have you ever had one before? Like um, by yourself."

Ri buried her face in the pillow to hide her blushing. "Maybe. I might have."

"Aw, I'm not trying to embarrass you. It's ok, I've had lots of practice."

"It's happened a few times especially after I've been riding."

"Ohhh, of course. Tight riding pants, bouncing up and down in a saddle... Hot. You kinky little thing! No wonder you're so fond of riding."

"That is NOT why I like it," Ri denied hotly. "It's … that's just a ... a side effect!"

"Uh huh, sure."

They bantered about who was in fact the naughtiest out of the two of them and Em continued to tease and needle Ri until the other girl finally shut her up with a kiss. They were back on the same page again and it was such a relief to each of them that they were both eager to continue this with each other. The recent shared discovery of the baby and the makeup from their fight created an irresistible rush of adrenaline and passion and now they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

Ri broke the kiss with a gasp. "Wait! I have to tell you something. I told Emma that we had sex. I had questions about it. I hope that was ok."

Em brushed Ri's hair back. "Yeah. She would've guessed anyway."

"How do you know?"

"Cos I'm her. I knew straight away when she and Regina started sleeping together. So obvious. She probably knew it the same way I did. Hey, what'd you ask her?"

"Um, well-" Ri sounded embarrassed. "Stuff."

"Like what? I tried to get some info out of Regina but she wouldn't tell me much."

"Basically she said to have fun and to discover it for ourselves because we'll probably like some different things to them anyway… and she told me a few things that Mary Margaret left out."

"Really? Tell me too."

"No, you'll just have to wait till next time and I'll show you."

"Show me now then," Em said eagerly. "I'm serious, princess, I want you to try out your new moves on me."

"But you weren't feeling well earlier. You're sure you want to?"

"Um, yeah - if you do - I mean, I'm feeling great now, sometimes I couldn't care less but other times like now I want sex so badly it drives me crazy! And we do have the place to ourselves..." Em trailed off. "It'd be nice to do it in a bed, instead of me bashing my knees and elbows in the backseat of a little car while I'm trying to impress you."

Ri giggled. "That was your idea! You led me to believe that it was the quintessential teenage sexual experience."

"It  _was_  sexy. Like you."

They kissed again, pecking each other's lips and smiling in between. Em tugged Ri's pyjama top over her head and then removed her own. Ri sat up for a second to pull off her pyjama bottoms. She laid back down and pressed her length against Em's side.

"There's something I want to do for you..." said Ri. She laid the flat of her palm between Em's swollen breasts. "May I give you a massage?"

Em was hesitant to be touched where she was so sore. "Mm, I dunno. It'll probably hurt too much."

"Gently? I'll stop if it doesn't start to feel better."

"Ok. You can try."

Ri pressed the flat of her fingers into the tender newly rounded flesh and made slow little circles. Em closed her eyes. The massaging did hurt but it also helped to ease the ache after Ri moved on to each new area. She enjoyed it especially when Ri finished the process with a kiss and then moved on to the other side.

"Em," said Ri, squinting one eye. "Are they bigger?"

Em giggled. "Yeah. How could you not notice, right? Check it out, I have boobs now!"

"Believe me, I have been checking you out."

"Yeah, I was wondering where Emma got hers from. I figured they were lost in the post for a few more years and I was still waiting. Like my Hogwarts letter! I guess these pregnancy boobs are not gonna deflate after H gets here and I'll be stuck with them. Feels a lot better after your massage treatment. But what I really want is to get more familiar with yours."

"Oh, do you now?" Ri said loftily.

"Yes, I really do. I intend to get very familiar," teased Em. She ran her hand down Ri's torso and around her hip, dipping her fingertips into the elastic of her panties and then trailed them back up so that she could cup her breast. She bent her head closer and was just about to take the tip into her mouth when she heard Ri's breath hitch.

"Wait -" said Ri. "What are you doing? Are you-"

"I was going to kiss you there," said Em.

"Is that ok. Is that a thing?"

"Oh, it's definitely a thing. Anywhere that hands can go so can mouths. And I do mean  _anywhere_ , but that's on the eventual To-Do List so don't worry about that now ok?"

Ri blushed. She threaded her hand through the blonde locks at the base of Em's neck and pulled her back down to her chest, to show that she was ok with it. As soon as Em's lips made contact it felt incredible and even more so when she drew the tight bud into her mouth and sucked. Em's long hair fell over her heated skin and it tickled deliciously. Ri's hands wanted to be doing something to Em as well and since she couldn't reciprocate in the same way, one hand tangled itself in her hair and the other wandered a path down past a pale hipbone and started pulling the cotton underwear down with her thumb.

Em's eyes snapped up at her in surprise but her expression was coy as she let herself be undressed. She followed likewise and removed the last bit of Ri's clothing as well so that they were totally naked together for the first time. She shifted higher so that she could kiss Ri fully. Before Em could change their position herself, Ri pushed at her shoulders and flipped them over so that she was on top instead.

Em's legs were butterflied and Ri settled herself between them. They were pressed together intimately and for the first time they weren't separated by clothing, secrets, or anything else. Both girls were breathing fast in between kissing each other's face or torso as they moved together rhythmically.

"Ohhh," Em sighed. "Who'd've thought sweet lil Ri liked to be on top."

Ri whimpered when Em arched underneath her. "Oh yes. I like this. A lot," she breathed.

It was only the second time that they'd had sex and though the first time had felt amazing and special for all of the it's-new-and-exciting reasons, this time it was less fumbly and both of them were less nervous. As it turned out Ri liked the top position just as Regina did (although not exclusively since Emma liked it too) and her surprise move for Em drove the girl crazy for her. It was an equal thrill of power and pleasure being inside her for the first time like Em had done for her before. Em didn't manage to coax many sounds of Ri this time either, but she figured that maybe that was just how Ri was for now and not because it wasn't very pleasurable for her.

Emma had been right - they were figuring each other out all on their own.

Later they were lazing together in a sweaty tangle of legs and arms, relaxing as their heartrates slowly returned to normal. Suddenly Ri clapped a hand over her mouth and looked worried.

"What is it?" said Em, confused.

"Henry!" Ri squeaked. "We forgot to tell him to close his eyes and block his ears. We probably traumatised him! Oh no, did I hurt him when I was lying on you?"

Em chuckled at the adorable girl. "No, he's fine. He's tiny and cushioned in there and hasn't got a clue. Thank god."

* * *

The next morning, Monday, when Emma and Regina came into the kitchen the girls were already there. The hadn't seen their younger selves last night when they'd got home from Mary Margaret's place, all they knew was that Ri's bedroom door was shut and the lights were off. Both girls must have been in there but it was unknown as to whether they'd made up from their fight.

The answer was obvious now.

Ri was sitting on one of the barstools and she had Em straddling her lap. For some unknown reason Em had her hair braided in a funky version of the way Ri usually did hers and Ri was wearing Em's new sparkly silver Converse hi-tops that Mary Margaret had been nagged into buying. The teenagers were grinning their heads off and kissing playfully, completely wrapped up in each other in a way that was almost nauseatingly sweet.

Ri noticed the adults and waved happily. "Isn't it the most beautiful day ever!" she said, before Em tickled her mercilessly and made her giggle. The girls paid no attention to their older selves after that.

Emma shot a sly look at Regina. "Behold! The magic power of makeup sex."

"Yes, it certainly does look like they've made up," said Regina. "Presumably Baby Emma grovelled and apologised for being a brat to Ri, who was in the right the entire time."

"Uh huh, sure. Maybe Little Regina realised that she doesn't have to be in control of everything to get what she wants and patiently waited til Em was ready to tell her."

Regina collected her purse and carkeys from where they were sitting on the kitchen bench. She was wearing one of her suits and had a busy day of work ahead. She could feel Emma smirking and watching her every movement so she gave her hair an unnecessary flip.

"Just so you know, dear," Regina said with as much haughty regality as she could muster. "I intend to pick a fight with you at some point in the future."

"Well, I intend to retaliate," said Emma, not intimidated in the slightest. "I've crossed worlds to keep fighting with you."

"Then I might throw something made from fire. At your head."

"I'm going to do the exact opposite of whatever you want me to do."

"I'm going to make your life extremely difficult."

Emma scoffed. "You're on."

"Do your worst, Miss Swan," said Regina loftily.

"You'd better bring your A-game, Madam Mayor. I'm looking forward to this and not just for the makeup sex. You're going down."

"As are you. Possibly at the same time." Regina pecked her on the cheek and headed for the front door. As she walked away she twinkled her hand in a wave without turning around. "Have a nice day at work, Emma dear."

"With that image in my head? Yes and no," muttered Emma. She grabbed her keys from where they'd been sitting next to Regina's. On her way out she glanced at Em and Ri who were now making out in that oblivious way that teenagers do, as seen in malls and movie theatres everywhere. Emma felt a frisson of jealousy that she couldn't blow off her responsible adult life for a day and do the same with her own girlfriend. But she was the Saviour, she didn't get to have a day off.

_Another day down,_  she sighed to herself and climbed into her car. It was another day closer to Storybrooke shrinking for good. The number of plans Emma had so far for preventing the impending disaster?

Zero.


	49. Role model

 

_Sheriff's Station_

Ri was bored.

She and Em were still considered to be sources of potential trouble during the day, so the teenagers had been given the option of "assisting" at whichever of the adults' workplaces that they chose. This time Ri jumped in first to go with Emma and David so that Em wouldn't get the idea of getting herself into anything even remotely dangerous.

Surprisingly Em had gone with her mother to the school. Ri suspected that it was because Em didn't want to disturb Regina (who was very busy with her re-election) and also because she wanted to be near Henry.

Emma was out on a call and David was doing work on the computer. He'd given Ri some filing to do, which she must've finished too quickly because he then spent the next two hours giving her whatever random task he could think of. None of it was very taxing so she spent the whole time thinking about Em and Henry. Both of the Henry's actually.

 _The baby,_  she sighed.

It was so amazing what Em was doing, though the poor girl had been having a hard time of it so far. After what happened the day of the car accident Ri had asked Em to show her how to use her phone. She looked up some pregnancy information on it and now had a bit more of an idea what to expect, but it was still hard for Ri to see her girlfriend sick. There was also a bit of stress on them both by having to keep it a secret from the others. Ri was running interference for Em these days to give her one less thing to worry about.

Ri was trying to be supportive and to make sure Em was ok, but it didn't seem like she would ever be able to do enough. She'd been raised thinking that it would be her that had the babies eventually, it was strange to be involved yet she wasn't the one carrying the child. She felt useless and left out. There was only so much she could do to help. She wanted to do something for Em to show her how special and beautiful she was… but what?

Ri sidled up to the Deputy's desk and ran her finger around the edge like she was checking for dust. "Daaaavid?"

He answered in the same drawn out tone. "Yeeees?"

"Can I have some monies?"

"Sure. Do you want to go to the diner and get a drink?" David got out his wallet and fished out a few small bills and offered them to her.

"Mm, that won't be enough."

David looked at her suspiciously. "How much do you want?"

"Fifty maybe?"

"Why do you need that much?"

"Um well, I need..." Ri suddenly got an idea. "Girly things! Lots of them. I forgot to bring any with me today. You know, the women in this world are lucky to have those cotton products for their monthly flowering. It's so convenient. Although, I don't think my mother would be very happy about the little inside-wearing ones in case they jeopardised my maidenhood. Too late for that I suppose! Mary Margaret said I might've been broken already anyway because lots of girls are without even knowing it but-"

"Ri." David said weakly. "H-here. Take it all. Please, go and buy whatever you need." He shoved a bunch of green paper bills into her hand.

"Thankyou, Daddy-in-law!" Ri smiled sweetly at him and left with her fortune.

* * *

_Storybrooke Elementary_

Em was tired.

Oh, she was so very very tired. She had been helping out with Miss Blanchard's class for half a day and she was already feeling worn out. Of course part of that was from her condition. But mostly it was because kids were EXHAUSTING. They never stopped! Like, ever. The fourth-graders were making some technology projects that morning and there were a lot of excited faces in the room. They flitted from table to table for supplies, chattering to each other and squealing and generally causing chaos. Where did they get their energy from?

Em wasn't fond of children as a rule after her time in the foster system. But the schoolkids were fond of her. Especially when they realised that 'Miss Swan' could easily be persuaded to join them in making a mess and being naughty. She completely ignored the assignment instructions and instead of assembling her robot properly it had two heads, mad racing stripes, and red pencils sticking out of its eyes like lasers. It wasn't long before the entire class's robots were sporting similarly creative deformities.

Mary Margaret didn't seem to mind. She had the patience of a saint and the children adored her. How did she do this all day every day? How did parents  _do_  this?

It made Em wonder not for the first time what it would've been like growing up having Mary Margaret as a mother.  _It would've been great,_ she realised with a pang. Though she was still saddened by missing out on having her parents when she was growing up, Em could hardly believe she was getting the chance to be around them now. Her whole life she would have given anything for a single minute with them, so the many weeks in Storybrooke seemed like a surfeit of everything she'd ever wished for. She knew she'd acted like a little shit when she first met them, but now she was trying to make up for lost time.

There was so much of it though.

It was lunchtime now. Em had eaten her lunch with Mary Margaret in the teachers' lounge. The other teachers gave her funny looks at first but after her mother explained the situation they were friendly to the teenager (which was absolutely bizarre for Em since teachers usually hated her on sight, or rather, as soon as she opened her smart mouth). Mary Margaret had to go to playground duty halfway through lunch and the other adults were being boring sitting around drinking tea and doing crossword puzzles.

Em decided to go with her mother and get some fresh air.

She spied Henry sitting by himself on one of the playground benches and went over. She hadn't seen him all morning. He wasn't in Miss Blanchard's class anymore since he'd been moved up to the fifth grade. Perhaps he'd be able to make some friends now that all of the other children had started aging along with him.

"Hey kid!"

Henry smiled happily in surprise. "Em! Yay, you're here."

"Watcha doin' sitting out here by yourself huh?"

Henry shrugged. "Nothing much."

"Why don't you go ask those boys if you can play the game with them?"

"Nah."

Em nodded over to where a group of girls about Henry's age were sitting around in a circle with their dolls. "So which one is the girl you like? The one you saved from the douchey older boy who tried to molest her. What did you say your girl's name was?"

"Jenna," Henry mumbled. "The one with the two plaits."

"Aww." Em took one look at the girl and pretended to wipe a tear from her eye. "She is really cute! I approve. Dude, you gotta go over there and talk to her before someone else snaps her up."

"No!" Henry looked horrified.

"Ok. Then I'm going to go and tell her how awesome you are."

"Em, you can't!"

She laughed. "Just kidding. Like I'd do that while she's surrounded by that platoon of girls. We're going to decide on a plan of attack to get her to notice you. I'll be your wingman. Ok, listen up. Operation Jenry will deploy two officers into the playground region in order to initiate a relationship between one lovelorn bratty-yet-awesome eleven year old boy and the girl with the red ribbons who has apparently failed to notice his existence so far. Move out, boys!"

Em's plan was a little over-the-top but it certainly did get Jenna's attention and also the attention of every student and teacher on the playground.

She found a discarded tennis ball laying on the ground and started up a game with Henry. They took it in turns to pelt the ball as hard as they could against the brick wall of the school buildings that surrounded the playground. The object of the game was to try to hit each other on the rebound. She and Henry were already sporting some bruises on their legs and arms from where the ball smacked into them, but that was part of the fun.

"Ha! You missed me, kid," said Em as she dodged.

"I'll get you next time!" said Henry. He chased after the ball so that he could take another shot.

When the other kids realised what they were playing they came over to join in and soon half the playground was involved. What Em didn't know (and wouldn't have cared about even if she did) was that this particular game had been banned at school for being too dangerous. There was a high probability of someone ending up crying and hurt. It never ended well.

Today no-one got injured, but the game stopped abruptly when the ball smashed through one of the glass windows with a loud crash. Unfortunately it was the room where Principal Gander was at the time. A hush fell over the playground.

"I demand to know who did this!" Gander called out the broken window. She went away for a few minutes and then reappeared outside. Everyone saw her enter the playground at a march, looking for the culprit.

"You're in trouble, kid," said Em.

"Me?" cried Henry. "You threw it!"

"Oh shit," said Em under her breath. "What if the Goose sees me and realises it wasn't Emma the other night when we broke in to her office? Surely she's not stupid enough to fall for it twice. Leroy could lose his job over covering for us. I'll get arrested… by myself. Emma will hit the roof. You'll get expelled. Regina will kill us both and Ri will help."

"Oh shit," said Henry.

"Don't swear, H."

"But you swear!"

"Fair enough. Don't swear in front of Regina though. Either of them."

Principal Gander was nearing the crowd of kids. "Which of you is responsible for my broken window? Speak up! Admit your crime!"

All of the kids pointed at Em like the traitor brats they were. "It was her. It was her!"

Em didn't wait around to be yelled at. She bolted out of the playground as fast as she could before Gander got too close. Hopefully the principal's eyesight wasn't as sharp as her vitriol.

The kids laughed. They were cheering at the thought of someone being brave enough to defy their strict principal. As soon as the teacher presence was gone from the playground, the kids regarded Henry in a more admirable light. He'd started the banned game with that teenager and didn't even care about getting in trouble!

Out of the corner of his eye Henry saw that Jenna was looking in his direction. He stood up straighter, trying to look tall and sporty and cool. A couple of boys came over to Henry. They were identical and it was hard to tell them apart, except that one of them was holding a basketball and the other had a bright red plaster cast on his forearm.

"Hey, Mills. You wanna play?"

* * *

_Sheriff's Station_

Emma and David were sitting around eating donuts and both of them had their boots propped up on their desks. It was lunchtime and there wasn't much crime-fighting to do. They were discussing various topics including their significant others, the teenagers, Henry, and the weird happenings in Storybrooke lately.

"Any news on the border stuff?" said David.

Emma shook her head and swallowed her bite of donut. "Yerh. Not really. I found a page missing in Cora's book of curses though. Regina reckons it's a Barrier spell similar to the one preventing people from leaving the town."

"That can't be a coincidence."

"I know. Someone's been messing around with magic and it's affecting the town line. Someone who had access to where Regina was keeping the book."

"Well, there's always Mr Gold. He's the usual suspect for these kind of things but I doubt he'd need a book for anything magical. The Blue Fairy has magic of course, but she doesn't usually involve herself in human affairs until things are dire. I hate to say it but apart from you and Regina that only leaves one person-"

"Henry." Emma finished with a nod. "Yeah, I think he's up to something, but I don't know why he would do this. He wouldn't want everyone to lose their fairytale memories again, he spent the better part of a year trying to get everyone to remember. Regina won't even entertain the idea of him being involved. Every time I've tried to bring it up with her she shuts me down and says  _'I'll handle it, Emma. I'll talk to him'_  but she never does. Her emotions get in the way of her judgment when it comes to Henry."

David shrugged. "She's his mother. She doesn't want to believe that her child could have anything to do with dark magic. She's trying to protect him."

"I hope that's the only reason she's covering for him," Emma said under her breath.

"What do you mean?"

"If I stop thinking like her girlfriend and more like the Sheriff, it seems like Regina has the most to gain from the border shrinking. Someone who loves her enough might see that too. I did, I offered to let the border shrink so that she could start over but she refused. Maybe Henry had the same idea I had and he took it upon himself to give her a fresh start without the burden of her past hanging over her head."

"You think he did it for her? He wanted to give her a clean state?"

"Maybe. But you know what the worst part is? Regina didn't even need that to get her second chance. She's changing things for herself anyway, people are really getting behind her with this election stuff. She doesn't see it, but I do. She didn't need everyone to forget, she only needed them to forgive."

"So do you have a plan for what to do next?" asked David.

Before they could continue the conversation they heard the slap of Converse-clad feet on lino. Em came into the office puffing like she'd been running across town. She hopped up and sat on the desk near David right on top of the paperwork.

"Hey, losers!" Em greeted them with her usual boisterous manner. "Ooh give me a donut. I'm starving. I need some sugar." She snagged a pink one out of the box and then proceeded to eat her way through two others.

"What are you doing here?" said David. "I thought you were with Mary Margaret today."

Em's mouth was full of donut. "Yerh, there was a change of plan. I kinda got expelled."

Emma snorted. "Only you could get expelled from school when you're not even enrolled. What'd you do?"

"Does your mother know where you are?" said David.

Em shrugged. "She might've seen me fleeing from the Principal. I broke a window. Totally an innocent accident. I texted Mom on my way here to say I wasn't coming back after lunch. Hey, where's Ri?"

"She went to the shops," said David.

The Emma's shared a knowing look. "Shopping," they said in unison. "Of course."

"Such a little Regina isn't she?" said Emma.

"Alright, I'm going to go see if I can find her," said Em. She hopped off the desk and dusted off her sticky hands. "Dad, can I have some money?"

"I don't have any on me. I gave it all to Ri. She needed to buy… " David lowered his voice to a sepulchral whisper. "Feminine products."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You gave her the rent money? Mary Margaret is going to be pissed at you. Seriously, David, how can you not know how much things cost? We currently have five women in the family, if tampons cost hundreds of dollars you'd be flat broke."

"I am anyway! My daughter and her girlfriend are teenage girls and every day my wife gets suckered into buying them new shoes or dresses. Of course I'm broke." David growled and tossed his empty wallet on the desk.

Emma pulled out a few bills and gave them to Em. "Here, go find Ri and get a hot chocolate. I know how difficult it is but try to stay out of trouble for the rest of the day. If you can manage it."

* * *

It wasn't that long ago that Ri had gotten herself lost in Main Street, but she knew her way around now and was confident that she could find what she was looking for without help. She felt a tiny bit guilty about manipulating David out of so much money. But it was for Em! Her girlfriend was definitely worth it. Ri intended to look around every store in the street until she found something that would make Em smile.

She knew it as soon as she laid eyes on it. The perfect gift. Now she just had to wait for the perfect moment to give it to her. The store owner smiled at her knowingly as she completed the sale and handed Ri the small bag containing her purchase.

As soon as Ri left the shop she felt a pair of hands cover her eyes. She gasped and someone behind her said, "Guess who!"

"Em," she laughed and turned around. "As if I didn't know."

"Yep, it's the one and only Em Swan. There's two of me in town these days but obviously I'm the original and the best."

"What are you doing here?" said Ri. "I thought you were teaching today."

"I was. The kids liked my lesson. The Goose wasn't too fond of it though, she chased me out of the school. I taught Henry how to pick up."

"How to pick up what?"

"Girls. Specifically, the one he has a crush on."

"Which girl is this?" demanded Ri. "Is she from a good family? If they've offered their daughter for an alliance already they could be trying to position themselves closer to Royalty for ambition's sake. Such deals are made and easily broken. As are hearts."

Em giggled and looped her arm through Ri's elbow as they walked down the street. "Calm your farm, Ri. They're eleven. Henry is a book nerd and Jenna is a karate nerd. It's not like they're getting married or anything dumb like that."

"You think marriage is dumb?"

"Um no," Em said hastily. "Of course not. It's just - you know, not everything revolves around getting a piece of paper right? "

Ri paused before the question that now had her worried. "So you don't ever want to do it?"

"Well," Em shrugged and scuffed her shoe on the ground. "When I was growing up it wasn't even legal in most places for people like us so I didn't ever think I'd be able to anyway. I never really thought about it before. Maybe if the right person was involved. Like you. I just don't think it's necessary. Love is enough for me."

It was times like these when Ri was reminded that she and Em were from completely different worlds. She had grown up being taught that the goal of her life was to make a good marriage connection. Her future was defined by that one thing that she didn't even get to choose it for herself. It determined how she lived her life, how she dressed and walked and talked, and which interests she was allowed to pursue. It defined everything about her (according to her mother).

To hear Em dismiss marriage as so unnecessary that she'd never even considered it was jarring. She didn't seem completely against the idea though, and that was a relief. Perhaps it was old-fashioned and idealistic of her but Ri still wished to marry for love. In fact, there was only one person she would ever want to marry...

"What are you hiding, Ri?" Em said suspiciously. "What's in the bag? Did you buy something? Let me see."

"Uh-uh, no." Ri held the little bag up in the air out of reach. "This is for later."

"Later schmater." Em made a grab for it but came up empty.

Ri grinned. She held up her two empty hands and twinkled her fingers. "Oh dear. Where did it go? It's disappeared."

"Magic?" Em shrieked. "You sneak! You didn't tell me you could do that. You've got magic now? Since when."

"The first time I felt it was also the day we you-know-what for the first time."

"That was an orgasm, Ri. A little one, based on the ones you've had since we've been practicing-"

"Not  _that_!" Ri dropped her voice to a whisper. "Shh, we're in the middle of the street. I meant, after the car accident. I felt magic gathering in my hands."

"I know," Em raised her eyebrows twice. "That was the day I felt magic in my hands too."

"Oohfff you!" Ri growled and shoved her in the shoulder. "Em. Be serious for five minutes, please. I thought you were badly hurt and I was angry that I might've lost you. It scared me. I don't understand why this is happening. How did I get magic? Why now?"

"Well, my magic has been playing up recently too. It was always unreliable but it's different now. Maybe you stole it from me or our magic kinda mingled together or something? Or maybe it's your own and it's making itself known to you. Because you'll need it soon."

"Yes," said Ri, suddenly sad. "I'll need it to do the terrible things I did."

"Hey, come on. We have a deal. No obsessing about the past and getting all sadfaced about it ok? No regrets."

Ri nodded. "Very well, I suppose you are right. I could never regret Henry and he's tied to the rest of it. Speaking of the baby, how are you feeling today?"

"Pretty good." Em grinned. She took off running and called behind her. "Race you to the park, Ri!"

"I don't run, remember!" Ri called out. She smiled and picked up her pace anyway.

* * *

_Storybrooke Elementary_

That afternoon Regina was waiting outside the school gates for Henry as she had done hundreds of times over. She was not prepared for what she encountered on this particular occasion however.

Usually Henry came out of the gates by himself, trailing behind groups of other kids who were running around or pushing each other playfully. She knew he didn't have any friends but neither did she know how to help him. When he was little he hadn't understood why only he moved up in grade but the jig was most certainly up long before he received the book of fairytales from Miss Blanchard. He was growing up and the others weren't. There was no point to making friends.

He knew things weren't right. He knew  _something_  was odd about Storybrooke, even though he'd known no other place in his life. Nothing ever changed here.

He felt the difference between himself and the other children.

When she adopted him it hadn't occurred to her that her child wouldn't automatically be on her side, that he'd question her authority one day. She'd been almost deluded to think that he wouldn't notice, or perhaps she'd thought that it wouldn't matter even if he did figure it out. By then surely he'd love her enough to blindly accept whatever she'd done?

The pieces started to fit together and so Regina had forced herself to lie to her own son. He said she made him feel crazy, like she didn't know who he really was. That wasn't true. She knew him so well. And he knew her.

That was the trick. Having a child means that the child has you too. He was so like Emma sometimes. Henry loved Regina, but he was still willing to call her out for her actions and stand up to her. They were the only two who ever did. The only two who could make her  _see_  what she was doing and take pause.

They were the mirror she looked into to find herself.

But even though Regina knew her son better than anyone she'd ever known she almost didn't recognise her bookish incorrigible boy when he spilled out of the gates that afternoon with all of the others.

Henry was laughing with two blond boys. They were a little older than him and constantly roughhousing it seemed. Her son's uniform was filthy and even from this distance she could see his face was patchy with dirt- wait, was his shirt  _torn_? What on earth? What'd happened to her son? She'd sent her little boy off to school that morning and he'd come back as… as some sort of pre-teenager!

She'd spent all afternoon preparing herself for the conversation that had to be had, she was intending to talk to him about magic - hers and his - and to warn him away from the path she'd taken in her own youth. But seeing him so happy and with  _friends_  made her reconsider. The talk could wait. She was loathe to spoil things for him.

"Henry, over here," she called.

One of the boys clapped Henry on the back before they left. "See ya, Mills. Saturday?"

"Yeah, cool." Henry grinned. "See ya."

When her son joined her Regina tried to be more casual than curious as she asked him. "Who are your new friends, Henry?"

"Oh that's Jason and Jackson Meadows. They're twins. Jason is the one with the cast. I think. They asked me to go to a basketball game with them on Saturday. Can I go, Mom, please?"

His face was so pleading that she would not have had the heart to say no. "Yes, Henry, you may go."

"Awesome! Thanks, Mom, but next time when you come to get me from school don't wait right at the gate ok? I'm not five. I can find my way to the car by myself."

Regina felt her eyes tear up before she could hide it. He was growing up so fast. It was slightly terrifying that he'd be a real teenager in a few short years. It was surreal. It felt like only yesterday that her sweet little baby boy had been placed in her arms for the first time. Where had the time gone?

Henry must've noticed that she looked like she was going to envelop him in a huge embarrassing hug and he shrank back. "Mom, not here," he complained.

"No-no!" Regina smiled too-brightly and shook her head. "Of course not, dear. I understand that you're becoming a young man who wants some independence and it's not very on trend to be seen with your parents anymore. Things are changing and you've got all these new feelings. It might not seem like it but I do remember what it's like growing up. It's an exciting time."

"Moooom. Please stop."

"That reminds me. I need to take you to get some new school pants. You must've grown several inches since last year."

Henry sighed. "You were cooler when you were evil. Shopping is stupid."

"You sound like your mother. You both make out as if I'm torturing you instead of trying to buy you presentable clothes. Shall we go see her at the station afterwards and convince her to take an early mark? I'm sure it won't take much convincing."

"Yeah! Cool. Let's go see Emma."

Regina smiled and frowned at the same time. "Why is it that Emma is cool and I'm not?"

"Because you're my Mom and Emma is Emma."

They were about to leave when a middle-aged blonde woman came up to them accompanied by the twin boys Henry had just been with and another little girl who was likely their younger sister. She had her hair in two plaits tied with red ribbons and was following her mother, walking with carefully controlled posture like she had the discipline of a dancer.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty?" the woman said.

"That title is no longer necessary," Regina said shortly. "Mayor or Ms Mills will do fine."

"Forgive me." The woman seemed flustered. "I meant no offense. My name is Janet Meadows. I'm sure you don't remember us - why would you - but my husband was one of your elite Royal guards in the other world."

 _'Was'?_  Regina thought with a sinking feeling. Had she killed this woman's husband herself or sent him to his death? It was entirely possible that she had and didn't even remember. The conversation could have gotten uncomfortable very fast, but Janet must've realised how her introduction sounded and rushed to clarify.

"Oh, he's still alive! Sorry, that sounded strange didn't it. Richard Meadows is his name here. He has his own personal training business. These are our children:" Janet pointed to each of them in turn as she introduced them, beginning with the tall twin boys next to her. "This is Jason and that's Jackson-"

"Mom,  _I'm_  Jason," the teen interrupted.

"You are who I say you are," said Janet primly. She then placed her hand on the little girl's blonde head. "And this is my daughter Jenna."

"You have a lovely family," said Regina. "Henry was just telling me about your sons."

"Yes, me too. The boys told me they want to take Henry to basketball with them on Saturday. That's why I thought I'd come over to introduce myself. I like to meet the parents of my children's friends."

The twins had been shoving each other in turns the whole time and now it had escalated to a punch. One of them bolted away laughing as the other took chase past the throng of students waiting for their buses or parents.

"Hey!" Janet yelled after them. "Jason. Jackson. Whichever one you are. No punching. Get back here!"

But the boys were gone. Janet turned back to Regina to explain with a single word. "Teenagers. Ever since they turned thirteen it's been nothing but monosyllable grunts and eye-rolls. Luckily I still have my little girl and my sanity. Jenna has just moved up to fifth grade for the first time, isn't that right, sweetie? She tells me Henry is the smartest in the class and that he stood up to that horrid Ethan Gander who was always bullying the girls. You must be very proud of having such a good-hearted boy."

Regina smiled and resisted putting her arm around Henry's shoulders as she was wont to do. "Indeed, his mother and I are very proud of our son."

"Your partner is a woman?"

"Yes," Regina said stiffly. "Her name is Sheriff Emma Swan. Is there some problem?"

"No! Of course not. I had heard... well, actually that was part of the reason I wanted to talk to you. My sister has a nineteen year old daughter. She's been heartbroken for a few months and we think it's over a girl and that she's afraid to tell anyone the truth. I thought that perhaps you or the Sheriff might do us the favour of talking to her? It would help her so much to have a role model. I mean, she does have Uncle Mike and Peter who just came out publicly. They were together in secret in the other land for twenty years and they've only been able to be open about it to non-family members recently. Mike said that  _'if the Queen could risk everything for love then we ought to be able to as well'_. But I thought it might help Jessica if she had a woman to talk to, someone she could relate to. She seemed a little more hopeful than usual when we all heard the rumours and the idea that two prominent women could be brave enough to be out in the open. There are others in Storybrooke but everybody's had to be so discreet until now. You're quite the hero in our family, Ms Mills."

"Regina," she cleared her throat. "Call me Regina."

The mayor dug into her purse for a small card and handed it to Janet. "My wife runs the teen center on Second St, it's called KidSpace. She's there every Thursday. I think Emma would be the best one for Jessica to talk to at first."

Janet smiled gratefully. "Thankyou! Regina, you have no idea how much this means to us. I'll tell my sister to ask Jess. I'll give you a call later about organising Saturday as well. I was wondering if Henry might like to come back to our house after the game? The boys will be there with their cousins and Jenna too, after I pick her up from karate."

"That'd be awesome!" said Henry. "Thanks, Mrs Meadows. Mom, can I?"

"That's fine with me," said Regina. "Janet, are you sure you don't mind looking after an extra child? It seems like you'll have your hands full already."

Janet laughed. "Oh, don't worry about that. It's no trouble. Our house is like Grand Central Station on weekends. Jenna will be the only girl among the older kids though. They've tried being gentle with her when they play but she won't have a bar of it. She can give as good as she gets. Can't you, Jen-Jen?"

"Mom, don't call me that in front of other people," Jenna complained. "Sensei says that to misuse my skill is to bring dishonour upon myself. I do not fight except as a last resort. I'm dangerous."

"I di-din't know you did karate, Jenna," said Henry.

"I'm training to become one of Her Majesty's Elite Royal guards one day. Like my father was." Jenna glanced up at Regina.

Janet sighed indulgently. "I don't think Regina needs guards anymore, sweetie. We're in Storybrooke now, remember?"

"And so are the Queen's enemies, mother," said Jenna seriously.

"Good point, daughter, but I doubt an eleven-year-old yellow belt meets the requirements for the Elite Royal guard yet."

The little girl said to Regina, "Very well. I'll train hard and apply to you in a few years then."

"I'd be honoured to consider you, Jenna," said Regina, trying to maintain her queenly dignity and not smile at the adorable girl. "I'm sure you are dedicated to your art. I'm impressed."

Jenna's serious composure broke for a few seconds and the eleven-year-old girl peeked through. She jumped on her toes causing her blonde plaits to swing and her face was overtaken by excitement. Then she realised she'd betrayed her cool exterior and was suddenly shy and red-faced.

"I'd better rally my troops," said Janet. "I've got to drop the boys off to my husband before I take Jenna to the dojo."

Regina and Janet exchanged phone numbers and pleasant goodbyes. When the two Meadowses went to leave the little girl looked back and waved to the Millses.

"Bye, Henry. See you in class."

"Bye, Jenna!"

Henry just about skipped to the car as Regina looked on in amusement. It seemed her son had his first crush. As soon as they were in the car Henry let her hug him and then asked to borrow her phone so that he could send a text to Em. As they drove away Regina asked him what he was talking to Emma's younger version about but he avoided the question.

When Henry laughed at one of Em's messages Regina asked, "What's so funny?"

"It's Classified," said Henry. "You don't have security clearance. By the way, do you realise you called Emma your 'wife' when you were talking to Mrs Meadows?"

"What? No I didn't."

"Yeah you did, Mom."

He turned back to the phone and typed:

_Em, guess what happened? Jenna knows my name and I'm going to her house on Saturday. MISSION SUCCESS!_


	50. Border insecurity

_Town Hall_

Regina heard her phone beep with a new message as she was driving into the parking area at Town Hall the next morning for work. She parked in the space allocated to the Mayor and then checked her phone screen. When she saw who the message was from and its content she rolled her eyes. They'd been apart for barely ten minutes. Emma must've just arrived at the station herself since she replied back within seconds.

**Sheriff Awesome:**  Hey Regina, my queen of queens. Nice three piece suit you're wearing today. Really brings out the gay in your eyes.

**Henry's Mom:**  Like you can talk. Are you or are you not currently wearing Hugo Boss men's cologne and rainbow striped socks under your clothes?

**Sheriff Awesome:**  That might not be completely inaccurate :). You seem awfully interested in what's under my clothes, Madam Mayor.

**Henry's Mom:**  Sheriff Awesome? I see you've infiltrated my phone security and edited yourself in my contacts list. More like Sheriff Bane-of-my-existence. Magic?

**Sheriff Awesome:**  As if. I didn't even need to hack it. Your password is 2001. Henry's birthday. Same as alarm system at work. Too easy.

**Henry's Mom:**  Exactly how many times have you gained illegal access to my office and/or residence?

**Sheriff Awesome:**  Just once each, I swear. Oh and that time I broke in to your bedroom to go thru your underwear drawer last year.

**Henry's Mom:**  I don't believe you, you're bluffing. I know everything.

**Sheriff Awesome:**  Missing a pair of panties with little red apples on them are we?

**Henry's Mom:**  I do not own any such thing.

**Sheriff Awesome:**  Not anymore you don't… they've been in my possession ever since. They are RIDICULOUSLY cute Regina! I laughed my ass off when I found them you know. Whenever you were giving me attitude I used to picture you wearing them and that's when you lost your power to terrify me. But then I was sad because I wished I could see you in them for real. I was half in love with you already and you wouldn't give me the time of day :'(

**Henry's Mom:**  I was busy. Trying to kill you. Trying not to fall for you.

**Sheriff Awesome:**  How did that work out?

**Henry's Mom:**  Not well. Disastrous in fact. Apparently I've fallen for an uncommon thief with a penchant for filching ladies' underwear.

**Sheriff Awesome:** Stole your heart didn't I? Sounds like you're into some kinky shit.

**Henry's Mom:**  I'll be into you later.

**Sheriff Awesome:**  JFC! You're like a puppy. I give you a toy and you won't let it go. I've created a monster.

**Henry's Mom:**  That better not be a backhand way of calling me a bitch. Don't even try to pretend you haven't been enjoying it too. I distinctly remember some begging last time...

There was a long pause during which Emma didn't send a reply. Regina checked her watch. She didn't have the time to sit around and wait for another message, especially if Emma had gotten distracted by a donut or the dartboard. She had a meeting scheduled but whoever it was could wait a few more minutes. She was the Mayor after all.

Regina got out of the car and slung the straps of her handbag and laptop bag over her shoulder. While she was walking to her office building she tapped out another message on her phone, intending for it to be the last. She ought not to start the conversation up again but couldn't help herself.

**Henry's Mom:**  I like you when you're like this. Speechless.

**Sheriff Awesome:**  What about imagining you naked on my desk? That's the other thing I'm doing right now. I know you like your toy but I know what you love even more… *lick*

**Henry's Mom:** Sheriff!Don't you have anything important to do? For example: file paperwork, fight crime, save the town?

**Sheriff Awesome:**  Yeah I should really get on with that. I don't know what to do. MM is going to kill me :(

**Henry's Mom:**  If she does I'll make sure she regrets it. There's still time. Talk later. I have a meeting now and I'm already late.

**Sheriff Awesome:**  Of course you are, puppy monster. You always gotta make an entrance don't you.

**Henry's Mom:**  Call me that again and your future will be very unpleasant.

**Sheriff Awesome:**  Sigh, I have to go. Is dinner at MM's ok? I know we were only just there but I want to see them again.

**Henry's Mom:**  Yes. See you tonight x.

**Sheriff Awesome:** xxxxxxxxx!

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment, later that evening_

Regina was in the kitchen with Mary Margaret helping her with the dinner preparation. She was slicing vegetables with a knife in a way that could not be considered "brandishing" or a threat in any way. Emma had gone downstairs with David to check Regina's car because it was making a funny noise and so the other two women were left alone.

It was neither subtle nor amusing.

"Is Henry enjoying fifth grade?" said Mary Margaret, trying her best to make neutral conversation no doubt.

"Very much so," answered Regina. "He has always found schoolwork easy enough but socialising with other children is something of a challenge. He has some friends now at least."

Mary Margaret smiled happily. "That's great! I'm so glad to hear that. I have been concerned about him at times. I worry that he's going to turn out like his mother."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Regina snapped. She stopped what she was doing and put down the knife in case she was tempted to use it.

"Not what you're thinking. I meant Emma, not you. She has trouble with emotional attachment. You are the opposite when you allow yourself. It's amazing that you two saw each other over the walls you've both put up. After what happened to you when you were younger and my part in it, I truly am happy for you. I remember when Daniel-"

"I can't have this conversation with you. Ever."

Mary Margaret seemed to heed the warning for what it was and went back to stirring the extra ingredients thoroughly. She took the saucepan back to the stove to let the sauce simmer. Regina watched her every move carefully. Anything the former princess did made her suspicious she was being manipulated. Did Mary Margaret have an agenda with these questions or not?

"Where are the kids tonight?" Mary Margaret asked Regina over her shoulder.

"Em and Ri are at home."

"Alone again? Don't you worry that they're… getting up to something?"

"I know they are. It's better that they're safe in the house than running away to be together or getting intoxicated. Emma and I don't see the problem with it any more."

"But both of you are biased, they're your younger selves."

"And you're not biased?"

Mary Margaret conceded with a gesture. "True. I suppose I'm not sure how I feel about my daughter having sex at her age. She's so young."

"Em has matured a lot recently. Recall that you and I were both married when we were her age or not much older."

"It was a different world then."

"Yes, but in every world trying to stop teenagers from doing anything is an exercise in futility."

"Mmhm, we'll see if you feel the same way in a few years when Henry starts dating. Where is he tonight?"

"Having dinner at the Meadows's house with his friend Jenna and then going to a movie with her and her brothers and cousins. Mrs Meadows is going to drop Henry off afterwards."

"Oh! I know Jenna Meadows, she's a sweet girl. Very serious at times. Her brothers are a handful but they're all good kids. I'm not sure why but Mrs Meadows is always distant with me for some reason."

Regina smirked to herself. "That's because she's one of mine. As Em would say: she's Team Regina."

"Ah, well that explains it." Mary Margaret smiled back, apparently deciding to let Regina have the upper hand this time.

Emma had been trying to persuade her that she did have supporters here but Regina had struggled to accept it. In her youth she had wanted to be a beloved Queen, if not a beloved wife, and had given up long since. The masses were fickle and the position of Most Popular Royal had already been filled. Regina had tried at first but she was thwarted by her mother's politics in her head, her grief over Daniel in her heart, and the King's orders that she stay behind while he and his insipid daughter toured the countryside.

In the Fairytale world her feud with Snow White had been a fire that consumed  _their_  entire lives but for the commoners it was nothing more than the petty squabbles of the healthy-wealthy. Snow White had the lion's share of the people on her side and nothing she did was wrong in their eyes. She had been the Royal sweetheart since the moment her birth was announced. The young Queen Regina had a tough enough time winning the kingdom over  _before_  she went evil let alone after. Sacking their villages and ordering their deaths did not exactly earn her their favour.

But the Evil Queen had not been entirely bereft of supporters. Her ruthless opposition to the deceased King's rule attracted the disenchanted, the marginalised, and the mercenaries who had been passed over in the Ogre Wars in favour of child soldiers. Regina employed them. Their stomachs became gratefully full, their children thrived, and they cared not whether her motives were corrupt. In a world where life was cheap and short already she earned their continued services despite her tendency to snap incompetent necks.

One family who had benefited from the Evil Queen were now called the Meadowses in Storybrooke. Regina had been too self-absorbed at the time to know one Elite Guard from another, but she did reward loyalty handsomely and apparently the father had risen swiftly through the ranks of her army. His pre-teen sons were no doubt headed for premature death-by-Ogre and the fate of penniless girls like his daughter was potentially worse. In her own twisted way she had saved the whole family from destitution.

Regina had not cared back then but she did now. Now that she was getting to know Janet and her family she was relieved that she'd brought them to Storybrooke. For Henry at least. She wasn't quite ready to admit that she another reason which some might label as 'compassion'.

"I think Henry has a crush on Jenna," said Regina, hardly knowing why she was bothering to restart the conversation with Emma's mother when she didn't have to.

"Ohhh!" Mary Margaret cooed. "That's adorable. He's growing up so fast."

"Maybe too fast. He doesn't want to be seen with me in front of his friends anymore."

"That happens. The very fact that he's able to leave you and make new relationships is because he's had emotional security with you since he was a baby. As his mother you were there when you had to do everything for him, including seeing him naked and changing his diapers and feeding him by spoon. He wants it to look like he doesn't need you much anymore but he knows he still does. He's different with Emma because he's never had to rely on her in the same ways as with you."

"Apparently I'm still needed to drive him places and buy him things," said Regina ruefully.

"At least your child calls you 'Mom'," teased Mary Margaret. "I'm still training mine to do that. My older one that is. She is a tough cookie. My younger one gets at my weakspots and somehow convinces me to feed her obsession with Converse.  _'But Mo-oooom these ones are totally different to my other ones, these ones are silver! I need them_.'"

Regina smiled at the imitation of the younger Emma. "Em will certainly take you for a ride if you let her, but she has changed so much since she's been here. Do you remember what she was like when she first got here? She was angry and defiant, especially towards adults. We could barely take our eyes off her for five minutes without her causing trouble in some way. She's become much more responsible for her own actions. She only needed to be feel trusted."

"Yes, and you were the first to give her that." Mary Margaret sighed. "She was carrying so much resentment for David and me. I'm so grateful for this chance to get to know Emma in this way though. It's a small part of everything we missed out on and we've gotten the chance to give her our love as well. As starved of family as she was it didn't take long for Em to respond to us."

"To Henry too. Something has changed for her. I'm not sure what, but she seems to have warmed up to him recently. The three of them get along very well these days..."

* * *

Dinner went as well as could be expected. There were arguments, threats of violence, and references to old grievances… it was exactly like a normal family dinner for them. Emma thought it unwise to let her mother and Regina have steak knives. She would've preferred all forms of weaponry to be out of range but they both behaved themselves. Sort of.

The argument started over something trivial. Regina's sass was in fine form as usual and Mary Margaret was righteous when she felt herself to be right. David and Emma put up with it without trying to intervene but when their spouses both turned to them for backup, father and daughter exchanged identical expressions that said: "We're fucked."

Emma wondered if she would ever get used to this. Having dinner at home with her parents and her partner. She drank in the family atmosphere as if she'd been dying of thirst in a desert. She couldn't get enough of it at the moment. Would this ever feel like everyday normalcy? Something she'd done thousands of times like others her age had with their families?

Mary Margaret returned from the kitchen with the dessert that Regina had brought. Poison apple crumble,  _of course_. Regina failed at hiding a predatory smile as she assured them that the 'poison' was merely a harmless secret spice, a very old recipe of hers. Everyone recognised the power play for what it was: either they all had to eat something which bore similarity to the Evil Queen's favourite murder weapon (in which case Regina won) or they could refuse and hence look like superstitious cowards (in which case Regina won).

"We should make Emma taste it first." Mary Margaret glanced at David.

He nodded. "Good idea. Regina probably wouldn't kill her. Although there was that turnover incident."

"Uh, guys?" said Emma. "I'm sitting right here. I can hear you."

Mary Margaret continued with David as though she hadn't heard. "I always was annoyed that I nearly died from an apple. I used to love them. I haven't eaten one in years. But that apple crumble does smell delicious."

"It might be worth the risk," said David. "Regina is a good cook when it comes to apples."

"Emma eats them all the time so they must be ok."

"I'm sure it's fine."

Mary Margaret smiled. "Yeah. You first."

"Me?" said David.

"Yes, you. Flex that chivalry muscle, Charming, or it will atrophy."

Regina was bemused as she served up her creation in four plates and handed them around. Emma stubbornly refused to take a single bite until Mary Margaret and David started theirs, she was unwilling to sacrifice herself to be her parents' official food tasters. Regina might've been pissed off at her for some reason and she wasn't ready to die yet.

"Oh dear," said Regina, with her special mix of super-polite innocence that meant she was up to something. "I forgot a dessert fork for myself. I'll go get one. Why don't you all start without me?"

David picked up Mary Margaret's hand like they were co-criminals at the gallows about to be hanged. "On three?"

She nodded once firmly. "One. Two. Three!"

The two of them took their first bite of crumble in unison just as Regina sat back down at the table.

"See? Nothing to be afraid of. You're right that Emma eats my apples all the time. She says they're her second favourite thing of mine to eat."

_SPLUTTER!_  Both Mary Margaret and David choked on the crumbly dessert they were eating. They had two seconds of relief that they weren't going to die followed by coughing fits caused by Regina's comment.

Emma's reaction was equal parts of horror and hilarity. She was definitely going to make Regina pay for this later but at the same time she was ridiculously proud of the innuendo. She turned to give the smug woman beside her a look. "Really, Regina? Must you do this every time we visit?"

"Alas I must." From her own plate Regina took a pinch of crumble between her index finger and thumb and held it up to Emma's lips.

"Open."

Emma obeyed and made a point of sucking Regina's fingers as they were pulled away. "Mm."

For a coming-together of sworn enemies who now found themselves connected by blood ties the night had been relatively peaceable so far. Emma was about to be introduced to yet another typicality of the family dinner: the Big Fight, where a well-placed comment upon arrival soured the tongue and cumulative annoyances were swallowed with wine and by the time dessert was served somebody was in tears. Her parents and Regina were well-used to fighting with each other and then picking themselves up afterwards fired up for the next round but to Emma … any conflict felt like the end of the world.

As they were just finishing off their delicious apple crumble dessert a frantic knocking on the door interrupted. A series of knock-knock-knocks, each followed by a pause not long enough for anyone to have reached the door before the next set started.

Mary Margaret jumped up to go answer in case it was one of the kids. She opened the door and reeled straight away at the slap to her face.

"How dare you!" Kathryn hissed.

Mary Margaret held her cheek, stunned and confused. "Wha- Kathryn?!"

The others got up from the table and went over to see what was wrong. Kathryn was shaking her head at Mary Margaret with angry tears in her eyes. She was definitely hurting over something. She shook David's hand off her elbow when he tried to comfort her.

"What happened?" David asked her gently.

Kathryn looked at him in disgust. "Isn't it enough that you're cheating on me? Now you're living with her! Are you trying to make me the laughing stock of the entire town, David? You're my husband, you should be at home with  _me_. After what I went through with my abduction I need you more than ever. I want us to work things out."

"Oh god," Emma realised with wide eyes. "She's lost her memory?"

"It seems she still thinks she's married to David," Regina murmured.

"And you," Kathryn whirled on Regina next. "I thought you were my friend. First you covered it up and now you're having dinner with them as if they haven't done a thing wrong! You should be on my side."

"I am," Regina pleaded. "Kathryn, I am your friend."

"No, you're not. A friend wouldn't lie."

"That's why I'm being completely honest when I say that there's more to this than it seems. It's complicated."

"I'm not sure what is complicated about the vow pertaining to 'forsaking all others'."

"The life you remember with David? Those memories aren't real. They never actually happened. You've lost your real memories because of-"

Kathryn stopped her. "Wait a minute. Are you suggesting that I have amnesia like David had? That doesn't make any sense. If I had amnesia I wouldn't remember who I am at all. I'm Kathryn Nolan. I know who I am. I can trust my own mind. Apparently I can't trust my husband or my friends."

"Kathryn," said David. "I can explain-"

His ex-wife threw out her hands like she was so tired of dealing with his crap and turned to leave. She almost ran smack-bang into a man who had just appeared in the doorway. The friendly-faced guy had floppy brown hair and wore a dark track suit with stripes on the sleeves and gym trainers on his feet.

"What are you doing here?" she said, frustrated at the obstacle the newcomer posed. "Why are you following me everywhere I go?"

"Abby, please, listen to me-"

"I told you, I'm Kathryn. I'm not whoever this Abby person is."

"Right, Kathryn," he corrected himself. "I know you don't remember me but I just want to make sure you're ok."

Kathryn pushed straight past him and left. He sighed as if it wasn't the first time getting the brush-off from her.

"Tommy?" Mary Margaret recognised him as Kathryn's boyfriend and the PE teacher at her school, he was the Storybrooke version of Frederick from Fairytale Land.

"Sorry to barge in on you all at dinner time, Miss Blanchard," Tommy apologised.

Mary Margaret quickly introduced her husband, her daughter, and Regina. "What happened? What's wrong with Kathryn?"

"She doesn't remember me anymore. Or remember being Abigail. She's only Kathryn Nolan now, I guess." Tommy rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged despondently.

"Since when?" asked Emma.

"The other night, after she had cocktails with you girls for her birthday, I drove her out to a quiet spot in the woods for a dinner picnic. We've been so happy together for the past six months. I was going to propose to her. I don't know what happened but she freaked out. I drove us back into town and she started acting like she had no idea who I was."

"I'm so sorry," Mary Margaret said sadly. "She's not the first in town to lose her Fairytale memories."

"But we're working on a way to cure it," said David. "In the meantime stay away from the woods. Don't worry, we will get her back."

Tommy nodded but there was no hope in his face. He gave them a goodnight wave and left.

Mary Margaret closely the door slowly. She turned around and leaned back against it. The four of them stood around in silence, each mulling over this disturbing new development in the shrinking Storybrooke problem.

Emma didn't know Tommy at all and she didn't know Kathryn very well, but she knew what they must be going through. This was not like some random dwarf losing his memory, this was someone she knew, someone important to her family members. She couldn't even imagine how much it would hurt if Regina didn't remember her. If she lost her one day and there was no guarantee that they'd ever be together again. After everything they'd been through… the sudden disappearance of their memories? The worst part would be that she wouldn't even know that she'd lost someone.

Or perhaps her heart would remember what her mind did not.  _Wait a minute… when Regina and I met in Storybrooke it wasn't the first time. We didn't remember that we met as Em and Ri. Is that similar to what's happening now?_

"Are you happy now, Regina?" demanded David.

Regina started. "Excuse me?"

"Do you see the kind of suffering caused by your curse?" said Mary Margaret with a sigh. "Poor Kathryn. Tommy looked devastated by it. This is such a mess."

"Kathryn's not upset about the curse," Regina pointed out. "She doesn't even know. She's upset because her husband cheated on her with you. That's not my fault, it's yours."

"For heaven's sake it's not Mary Margaret's fault," said David. " _You_  set this curse up. You tore us apart. This is  _your_  fault if it's anyone's."

"If I recall correctly I tried to warn you both about hurting my friend. I didn't force you to cheat on your wife, David, you did that on your own."

"No. But you did force me to betray my real wife. That was definitely intentional. Kathryn was merely collateral damage in your war against Mary Margaret."

Emma took a deep breath and verbally stepped into the three-way glaring match like the peace offering she was. "Guys, we're getting nowhere playing the blame game. No-one's totally at fault here-"

"Actually there is someone at fault," said Mary Margaret. She spoke at low volume but there was nothing reassuring in her tone.

"You."

"Me?" Emma gaped.

"The night of Kathryn's birthday. Why were none of the dwarves guarding the road out of town?"

Emma was surprised at being caught out. "How do you know about that?"

"Leroy called me. He's becoming afraid of what's going to happen. We all are. Don't you think you should have told us? I specifically remember asking you about the border that night and you didn't think to mention it?"

"Uh well… it was supposed to be Leroy on patrol but he had a date with Astrid. So I uh, let him off duty. I didn't think it was a big deal since the border was stalled anyways and it was just for one night. None of the others could cover for him. I would've gone myself but you insisted I had to go to the party."

Mary Margaret did not look pleased with that answer.

Emma floundered for a better reason and mumbled. "I thought I wouldn't bother you about it until I figured out what to do."

"And have you?"

Emma shifted from foot to foot. She had her thumbs looped in her belt loops and was looking away when she answered reluctantly. "No."

"How could you be so irresponsible, Emma?" cried Mary Margaret. "The entire Council needs to be aware of what's going on. How can you be our leader if you're not acting like one? You haven't delegated or given orders, you haven't kept us informed, you haven't asked for help even though you clearly have no idea what you're doing. We're your parents, if you were struggling you should've come to us. I thought I'd let you go on by yourself and see what you'd do with the leadership, but you've done nothing. Now look what's happening, people are getting hurt. What were you thinking letting things get this far?"

"What was I THINKING?" Emma raised her voice to fight back against the allegations. She was angry and defensive and confused all at once. It was getting out of hand and she wasn't prepared.

"I was thinking that I didn't want to be the stupid Saviour or the Council leader in the first place! All I wanted was to get to know my parents and spend time with my girlfriend and my son. I was enjoying not being alone for the first time in my life. I finally found my family and I didn't want to think about the possibility of losing you again. Anyway, why am I responsible for fixing everything that goes wrong in this place? I don't want this pressure on me. I didn't ask for any of this!"

"Yes, you did. You wanted a family? This is it. You don't get to choose the problems that come with it. This is what family responsibility is, Emma. You were born to be the Saviour. You're a Royal. We have more responsibility than most others. You'll just have to deal with it."

"Yeah, well. It  _sucks_."

"Oh, that's mature. I feel like I'm talking to a teenager, not a thirty year old. You'd be a dead ringer for Em right now except that lately she's been acting more grownup than you."

David tried to defuse the situation by getting between them. "Mary Margaret, it's all new to her, maybe you should-"

"Stop coddling her, David," his wife cut in with a glare. "This has gone on long enough. We have to step in before things get worse. We have to do something. Apparently our daughter is content to let someone else handle it anyway."

"Hey!" Emma objected. "This is the way I am, it's the way I had to be to survive. Yougave me up. My whole life I've never had anyone be there for me when I needed it and I had to learn to cope somehow. You can't blame me for the way I turned out because of what YOU did."

"I know you think I'm being unfair, but I'm only pushing this issue because I know you have it in you-"

"You don't know me at all. You think I'm this poor little orphan who overcame a shitty childhood and grew up to be some virtuous fairytale hero? Perfect and selfless and brave like my parents? That's not me. I'm not like you. I put off dealing with this because I didn't want to. I didn't want you to find out what a screw-up I really am. Well, now you know." Emma finished with sarcasm but it clear that this fight was getting to her.

"But I already knew." Mary Margaret said. She laid her palm flat on her heart as though to keep it from leaping from her chest. "You're my daughter and I love you no matter what. I've tried to show you so many times but you don't seem to get it. You won't call me 'Mom', you won't ask me for help when you need it, you don't confide in me until you're about to break... I have no idea how to connect with you as your mother because you hardly ever give me the chance to get close to you. I don't know what to do anymore. You're reverting again, Emma. You know you have responsibilities now but you don't act like it. What is the matter with you?"

Emma was stunned like a deer in headlights for a second. "I - I'm still angry at you sometimes. I f-feel so bad I can't tell you," came the tiny answer.

She blinked as her eyes filled. What she did next was something none of the other three had ever seen her do. She was trying desperately but she but couldn't stop her chin wobbling. She starting crying and looked around for an escape.

In that second Mary Margaret knew what she'd done. She'd always thought of Emma as strong, she'd thought that pushing her would drive her into action... when in reality all she'd done was heap pressures onto someone with an already full emotional load.

Both David and Regina were reaching for her and came up empty. Emma shook them off, either too angry or too embarrassed, and she ran for the bathroom. The door slammed shut with a bang that shook the thin walls of the apartment.

"Congratulations," said Regina. "You just broke your child."

"She's stronger than she thinks she is," said Mary Margaret, with tears forming in her own eyes. "I know how much good there is in her but this is a serious problem for everyone in the entire town. She should have told us!"

"Don't you dare put that on her shoulders!" Regina hissed. "You're taking out your fear over Kathryn and your own impending loss on to her. Tough love isn't the answer here."

"But she is the Saviour for a reason," David reminded her.

"No matter what she says she  _is_  a hero," said Mary Margaret. "We need her to do this. She's the only one who can…"

Regina tsked with impatience. "Yes-yes, I know. You need her to save you all again."

"Or everyone in town will lose their memories for good, just like Kathryn has. I don't want to lose my daughter again! David and I will lose each other as well. We won't remember that we're each other's True Love."

David folded his arms and glared. "Is that what you want to happen, Regina?"

"Not particularly. You occasionally make yourselves useful as on-call babysitters."

Regina glanced at the bathroom door and then took her former enemies aside. She lowered her voice. "Ordinarily I couldn't care less about giving the Charmings any advice. This is about Emma. I know you two have only been parents for five minutes but you should know something about your daughter by now. She's still an orphan on the inside, she always has been."

"And whose fault is that?" said David.

Regina gave him a baleful look. "Yes, Charming, I know. I'm not denying my role in that. Emma and I have made our peace with the past. That is not why I'm telling you this. When I yell at Henry for leaving his shoes on the stairs he knows I'm still going to come home that night to take care of him. Even when he's misbehaving and pushing me to my limits and I'm stressed because of work, my son knows I still love him.

"Emma wasn't raised knowing any of that. She wasn't raised at all. She never learned attachment as a baby and it's much harder to learn it as an adult. When you yell at her she thinks you might sit her at the kitchen table to watch while everyone else is eating and not give her any dinner. She thinks you might make her stand outside on the porch all night in the cold. She thinks you've found a reason to not love her anymore. She thinks like an orphan. Maybe she always will.

"You might assume that because Emma is an adult she doesn't need anything from you anymore but you are wrong. It is not the job of a parent to keep the small human alive for eighteen years and then retire. Parenting is for life. It's not her fault for coming into your lives as a 28 year old instead of an infant and it isn't her fault that she doesn't know how to bond with you. She still needs you, just not as disciplinarians. She needs you to trust her and accept her, even when she's making mistakes. You can yell at her when she's screwing up, which is often, but make sure she feels secure first. Emma  _doesn't know_  that things are going to be ok."

Tears had been falling down Mary Margaret's cheeks all throughout her own parental-type lecture. David wrapped his arms around her. She clung to him though her arms felt empty and all of her instincts were screaming at her to cradle an infant who could no longer fit there.

Regina had given her former enemies enough to think about. Emma had opened up about her childhood eventually but only on her own terms and whenever she didn't want to talk she was a closed book. They were similar in that regard, but they were learning that the comfort they found in each other was the best salve for old injuries. The anecdotes she'd told the Charmings had been placeholders for events that actually happened to Emma as a young girl. It made her angry that a child so desperately in need of a good home hadn't found one until she was almost thirty.

Regina went and knocked on the bathroom door several times without getting any responses. It wasn't locked but there was no way she was going to breach the borders of Emma's chosen safehouse. She tried everything she could think of to say through the door, even resorting to the rather embarrassing entreaty: "Open the door, it's puppy monster?"

But even that failed. After waiting almost ten minutes before giving up Regina opened the bathroom door, at first only a crack and then she let the door swing open.

The bathroom appeared to be empty and Emma was nowhere to be seen.


	51. Changed

 

_108 Mifflin St, earlier the same day_

"Ri, where are you?" yelled Em. "I have a huge problem and I need your help!"

Ri was sitting quietly reading a book of magic she found in Regina's hidden shelves. Ever since she'd felt the tingles in her hands the day of the car accident she wanted to know more about her new power. It scared her at first but the more she read about magic the more she began to see it as a benign quantity which could be used as a weapon. As long as she was careful she would be fine resisting it's darker side. What harm could come from learning more about it?

Em ran in demanding attention with her mere presence. The pregnant teen had become overly dramatic lately (everything was a crisis to her and her emotions were all over the place) so Ri wasn't that alarmed by it. Yet.

Ri raised an eyebrow but kept her eyes on the page. "Are you calling our baby a problem, dear?"

"Not  _that_  problem," said Em. "There's a bigger issue at hand which is that I'm starving and I don't have any food."

"There's plenty of food in the fridge. Regina went grocery shopping two days ago. What are you hungering for. Chocolate?"

"I want something green. Celery."

"There's salad from yesterday."

"I ate it already. Hey, what's that look for? I had a midnight snack last night geez. I need more greens. I'm growing a person inside me and he's stealing all of my food. The little parasite is hungry again."

Em sat next to Ri and nuzzled her face into her neck. She whined. "Riiii. I love you and you are the most beautiful girl in the entire universe, but if you don't somehow get me some celery right now it'll be really really evil of you and I might cry. You don't want to be evil do you? Do the right thing, which is get me celery. Please please  _please_?"

"Ok ok," Ri sighed exasperatedly. She closed her book. "But I am not stealing from the neighbour's garden again. It never ends well. Do you want me to walk to the shops and get you some?"

"Yes. Hurry back, it's an emergency."

Ri smiled and pecked Em's cheek. "The things I do for you."

Less than an hour later when Ri got back from the shops with a brown paper bag full of groceries she found her girlfriend completely engrossed in playing a video game in the den. Em was mashing the xbox controller furiously and sticking her tongue out in concentration as the animated characters duelled it out on the TV.

"Em, I'm back," Ri announced herself expecting a happy reception. "I got more salad for you, some rocket and watercress since you devoured those last night. Here's your emergency celery."

"Huh?" Em took her her eyes off the screen for barely a second. "Oh, I don't want that now. I'm winning. I'll have it for dessert later."

Ri sighed good-naturedly at the fickleness of the 'emergency' request. "You silly thing. Alright, have fun playing your game."

"Oh hey, Ri? Regina texted me to say that the others are having dinner elsewhere tonight. What should we do? You wanna go out?"

Ri had been waiting for an opportunity just like this. Her heart began to pound and she tried to react normally rather than too excitedly so that Em wouldn't be suspicious. They'd be alone in the house tonight for dinner, just the two of them. The others couldn't have done her a bigger favour if she'd asked them to make themselves scarce.

"How about I cook and we'll have a lovely dinner at home?" Ri suggested. "I'd like to make you something special, maybe a vegetarian meal that won't upset your stomach. Regina has been teaching me a few things so I think I can manage by myself."

Emma stared up at Ri and pouted. Her eyes started to water. "You want to make me dinner? That's so cool. My little martian Ri knows how to cook like a grownup. I love you so much, please don't ever leave me. Do you still love me? Even though I'm annoying and ask you dumb stuff all the time?"

"Oh, Em, don't cry. Of course I love you, even when you're being annoying.  _Especially_  then."

Ri put the groceries on the coffee table so that she could sit down. She gave Em a kiss and enveloped her in a hug. The game was quickly forgotten, which was just as well because Em's character was dead on the screen and that might've caused another flood of tears.

* * *

_The Meadows's house, afternoon_

Jenna wanted to show Henry her room for a few minutes. Mrs Meadows had picked them up from school and cooked them an early meal so that the kids could go to the movies on a school night. They were still waiting for the twins to gel their hair and choose clothes that were cool enough to be seen in public in so the younger two went off alone.

Henry noticed straight away that Jenna's room was  _messy_. As disciplined as she was with her form and posture she was the complete opposite with regard to her personal belongings. Her student desk and shelves were piled with stuff, haphazardly arranged. It was a girl's room so Henry wasn't that interested but Jenna showed him her favourite doll and her collection of karate belts and trophies she'd won at athletics over the years. She didn't have any comic books at all but she did have a copy of The Chamber of Secrets laying around on the floor so all wasn't lost on that front. Maybe they had something in common at least.

Henry hadn't been to many other kids' houses before but he noticed that Jenna's room was much smaller than his and he knew the twins shared so the Meadows family probably didn't have much space to spare. Certainly it was much smaller than his house or any of the others in affluent Mifflin Street.

"So what do you think?" Jenna said, standing in the middle of her room.

Henry fished for something polite to say. "You've got a lot of trophies."

"Yeah, karate and athletics. I'm pretty good. Which sports do you play?"

"None."

"Oh."

"I… read a fair bit," Henry admitted, feeling totally lame.

Jenna nodded. "Yeah, that must be why you're so smart. Does your Mom make you do lots of homework?"

"Kinda… I mean, yeah. Yes." Henry changed his answer quickly, figuring that it was less uncool to make it sound like his mother made him do it rather than choosing to. His new grade five teacher made a point of singling him out in class for getting such good marks but it didn't exactly endear him to the other kids. He didn't want Jenna to think he was  _too_  smart.

Jenna picked up a photo frame from her shelf and showed him. It was a family photo of the Meadowses. She pointed to each family member and told him their names. She had a big family with lots of cousins but the only two girls in the youngest generation were Jenna and a much older teenager called Jess. They were pretty close by the sound of it.

"Hey, do you think we'll be able to leave Storybrooke one day?" asked Jenna.

"I'm not sure."

"If I wanted to leave town would your Mom let me? I know you have magic too because of what happened at school. Could you do it?"

Henry frowned. "Nobody can pass through the border without losing their memories."

_Except me and Emma._ Henry didn't mention that though. At the moment nobody in town could leave with the border preventing it but hopefully that would change soon. After the curse broke the people of Storybrooke found out that they were trapped and they also started aging again. Which meant that the youth were growing up knowing that they were barred from seeking out the rest of world: travelling, going to college, or following any other dream requiring a location change.

_But I can leave if I want,_  Henry had realised a long time ago.  _What if the curse had never been broken and only I grew up? Would Mom have let me go away to college? Would she have told me the truth eventually?_

Everyone was stuck here. They couldn't go back to Fairytale Land (even if they wanted to) and they couldn't participate fully in this world either. Of course some of them would want to leave. Eventually there would be a crisis if the population kept growing and aging… and if the town kept shrinking. The border had to go.

"Is that why you wanted to be friends with me?" Henry asked casually. He looked down to where his hands were tucked away in his jacket pockets. "Because you want to leave Storybrooke and you think I have the magic to do it?"

"No. I can't leave the Queen unprotected. But one day maybe, it'd be good if someone could leave..."

Ugh, that wasn't comforting. Henry wasn't sure what was worse: Jenna wanting to be friends with him to get to his magic or because he was the Queen's kid. Did she really like him at all?

Before Henry could ask why she wanted to leave town Jenna's twin brothers came into the room and started picking on their sister. They flicked her pigtails in her face and tried to tickle her middle. Was that normal behaviour for siblings he wondered?

"Jase! Don't make me hurt you," Jenna warned. She slipped out of his headlock and air-kicked his shins.

"Jennaaaa," they taunted her. "Jen-Jen. How's it going with your new boyfriend."

The littlest Meadows child reached up to make a mess of one of the twin's gel-styled haircuts.

"Argh, Jen, get off!" said Jackson. "You'll wreck it."

"You started it!" argued Jenna. "Your hair looks stupid anyway."

"It does not."

"Does too."

Jason and Jackson turned to Henry for the deciding vote.

"Mills, tell our sister-"

"-that she doesn't know what she's talking about."

Henry didn't know what to say.

Jenna put her hands on her hips. "Henry, you don't have to listen to my brothers. They only have one brain between them."

The voice of Mrs Meadows called from downstairs."Time to go, kids! Anyone who isn't in the car in two minutes is getting left behind."

The twins bolted out of the room jostling each other for the lead calling dibs on the front seat as they went. Jenna ran after them leaving Henry standing alone trying to absorb the chaos of this family which was so different to his own.

In three seconds Jenna was back with a smile telling him: "Come on, hurry up!" Her two plaits were askew now because of the roughing-up her brothers had given her. She grabbed Henry's sleeve and pulled him behind her out the door.

* * *

Em poked her head around the corner of the doorway, just enough to see but to not be seen. Her concealment magic might not be working at the moment but she knew how to be sneaky without it. She had been drawn in by the promising aromas: garlic, frying onion, and something else she didn't even recognise.

She saw Ri flitting about the kitchen tending to the stove, the bench, and the fridge, and expertly managing her many tasks. Ri was wearing an apron over the same dress that she'd bought after their breakup at the B&B (it was her favourite outfit) and she had her hair loose and falling in long chocolate curls down her back.

Em watched her girlfriend with admiration and awe. Was it only a couple months ago now that this girl was shy and too frightened to talk to anyone? Ri had been so unsure of herself, so afraid of getting in the way or standing up for her right to be present and noticed in the world.

_Now look at her! She's changed so much. I'm so proud._

It wasn't just that Ri had picked up how to use modern conveniences quickly because she was smart. The most changed aspect to her was personally - she had become way more assertive and confident in herself. She now knew that her feelings and thoughts were valid internally and that they were valued externally by others.

Em wasn't sure how to account for Ri's growth since coming to Storybrooke but she was thankful for it. Maybe it was due to having the example of her older self and Emma's guidance, together with witnessing Mary Margaret and David's acceptance of Regina after putting aside their long bitter feud. Or perhaps it was knowing that Henry was her future child and finding out that the baby was already on his way that gave Ri the extra shove she needed towards maturity.

Whatever it was, Em was sure that Ri was strong enough to handle whatever life decided to throw at her.

"It's you!" Ri was frowning at her with her hands on her hips. "I thought I heard a naughty little mouse around the corner. Get out of my kitchen, Em. It's supposed to be a surprise."

"I got bored waiting without you. Do you need any help with dinner?"

"No, it's all under control. You are not allowed to help. In fact, you are not allowed to do anything."

"I hope I'll be allowed to eat?" Em joked. "Hey, have you been talking to Emma? Because that kitchen fire thing was totally not even my fault. I can help without burning the place down, I really can."

Ri came over and shooed her away. "Go! Wait in the dining room. I'm going to serve now."

Em gave her a suspicious 'I'm watching you' V-shaped gesture and left to go wait in the mansion's formal dining room. Her jaw dropped when she saw the table. It was set with candles and elegant place settings. Ri had gotten out Regina's fine china and the good crystal glasses. The lighting was soft and intimate, just waiting for the couple to complete the romantic atmosphere.

"Wow," Em whispered to herself.

Ri came in holding two steaming dishes in her mittened hands. "You can sit down, Em."

Em took her place at the table as Ri placed the meals. "That looks great, Ri, and it smells amazing. What is it? Why did you do all this?"

Ri's smile was coy. "We need to eat something for dinner. Why not make it special? It's vegetarian pasta so I hope you'll like it. But if you don't it's ok, I can make something else-"

"Ri," Em stopped her with a smile of her own. "I'm sure it's fine."

The young cook ran off to the kitchen for a second to rid herself of the apron and mitts. When she came back Ri pecked Em's cheek as she passed and then took her own seat.

"Enjoy," said Ri shyly.

As soon as Em tasted the food she announced that she was in heaven and that it was  _"pretty good, considering you could barely butter your own toast without a servant's help when you got here."_  All joking aside, she made sure Ri knew how much she liked the meal. It was actually the first dinner she'd been able to get through in a while without feeling queasy.

They didn't talk as much as they normally did, each suddenly shy as though it was their first date. Neither of them could keep the smiles off their faces though, staring at each other in the candlelight. Ri looked extraordinarily beautiful tonight. It might've been the baby hormones making her sappy but Em was sure that she'd fallen in love with all over again.

After dinner was finished, Ri took the plates away and came back with bowls of icecream for dessert. As a joke she brought a stick of celery too. She wrinkled her nose when Em sprinkled cinnamon on her chocolate icecream and used the celery stick as a spoon. But Em just laughed.

"Ok,  _now_  I'm in heaven." Em grinned and took a bite from the end of her 'spoon'.

Ri couldn't eat much since she was too busy trying to swallow her nerves. When she couldn't wait any longer she reached into the pocket of her dress and then placed a small box in front of her. It was black velvet, squarish, just like the kind that jewelry comes in. She placed her hand on top of Em's where it was resting on the table and spoke softly but surely.

"Em, there's something I want to ask you."

Em took one look at the suspicious-looking box in front of her and hastily jumped up from the table. "Uh, let's go for a walk first! Yeah, it's a nice night. We probably won't freeze to death. I'll go get our jackets."

Ri seemed confused and a little disappointed. "Ok. If you like."

With a sigh she picked up the velvet box and put it safely in the pocket of her dress.

* * *

_Reel Life, Storybrooke's finest cinema_

After Mrs Meadows dropped them off around the corner, Henry, Jenna, and the twins entered the quaint old-fashioned movie theatre (the only one in Storybrooke) and were met by two of the Meadows's cousins: nineteen year old Jess and fourteen year old Joel. There was a squabble about who was going to order popcorn resulting in most of the younger ones running off to the food counter.

Henry was left standing around with Jess while they waited in line for tickets. She was dressed more or less like the twins in a hoodie and jeans and she had the same blonde hair that belonged to all of the Meadowses except that hers was cropped short like the boys' rather than in long plaits like Jenna's.

"So you're Henry Mills, the Evil Queen's kid?" said Jess with a smile.

"Yeah," said Henry. "But my Mom is the Mayor now. She's not evil anymore."

"Jenna's told me a lot about you, and of course everybody knows about your mother. Especially now that she's, y'know, dating the Sheriff. Two women. Makes people talk, I guess."

Henry had the feeling that Jess wanted to keep talking about it for some reason, but he didn't know what she was getting at. In fact, the older teenager seemed a bit nervous asking her questions.

"What's it like?" asked Jess, tucking her hands away in the hoodie pocket.

"What?"

"Living with your Moms."

Henry shrugged. "I lived with Mom my whole life and then I lived with Emma for a while. Now I'm living with both of them together, it's the same but better. They don't fight much anymore. It's pretty good."

"Sounds nice," said Jess. Then she lowered her voice to confess. "I'm like your Moms too."

"Magical?"

Jess laughed awkwardly. "Um, no. I meant that I like women. Like like."

"Oh."

"Jenna told me that you have magic too and you used a spell for her. She said that you got even with one of the boys at school who was bullying her... Hey, don't look so worried. I'm not afraid of you having magic, I just wanted to thank you for standing up for my little cousin. You're a good friend."

"I-it um, wasn't-" Henry got tongue-tied accepting the gratitude and accidentally blurted out what he really wanted to know. "Does Jenna like me?"

Jess grinned widely. "Yeah, totally."

Henry let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding. He was relieved that Jenna hadn't only wanted to be his friend because of his magic.

They reached the ticket counter and Jess got out her wallet to buy tickets to  _'The Avengers'_  for them all. Henry tried to pay for his own ticket with the money Regina had given him but Jess merely called him 'adorable' and completed the transaction herself. She then suggested that he could pay her back by sitting next to Jenna, which would most likely mean he'd be the one to listen to the little martial artist's complaints about inaccuracies in the stuntspeople's fighting techniques throughout every action scene. Henry didn't believe her when she said that Jenna was trying her best to show off in front of him.

"Let's go find my brother and cousins shall we?" said Jess. She gestured over to the games section where the other Meadows kids were dueling each other at airhockey. From the looks of it Jenna was teamed up with Joel to give her twin brothers a smashing. Her competitive streak was wide.

"Do you know why Jenna wants to leave Storybrooke?" Henry asked Jess.

"I don't think she does. She's never said anything about it, unless it's because she wants to visit me one day."

"It's you that wants to leave? How come?"

Jess shot a glance his way as if to judge whether she should explain. "Well, I wasn't as lucky as your parents. The girl I liked didn't like me the same way. Storybrooke's kinda small so I want to move to a new city, meet some more people like me, and go to college. I'm thinking of going into activism or studying international law or something. There's not much call for that around here."

"I think you will get to leave one day, Jess," Henry said confidently. "My other Mom, Emma, is here to bring back the happy endings. If you need to leave to find yours I'm sure she'll help. You should ask her."

"Emma runs the Kidspace charity right? Mom said something about talking to her."

"Yep, she's a hero even when she thinks she's not. Everything in Storybrooke will be great when Emma gets around to fixing it..."

What Henry didn't know as he made light of the situation was that at that exact moment across town Mary Margaret was consoling herself in David's arms after having a fight with Emma in which she'd tried to convince her daughter of that very thing. Henry had always been the one with the staunchest belief in Emma's heroic character and if he had been there she might have been more inspired to stay and to trust herself for his sake at least.

Last year, Emma's skepticism had only been shattered when her son nearly succumbed to a fatal poison. She had panicked and grappled with the unbelievable truth that she had tried to deny for so long... she was the Saviour.

This time, again, someone she loved would come close to death before the hero in her returned.


	52. Proposal

_KidSpace_

After Emma magically disappeared from the bathroom in Mary Margaret's apartment, Regina wracked her brain trying to think of a place where she would go. The problem was that Emma didn't feel entirely safe anywhere. She also had the power to conceal herself if she wished and it was unlikely that she could be found if she didn't want to be. Regina remembered something Emma had said about her younger self:

_"When Em uses magic she could be standing right in front of you and you won't even see her."_

Regina assumed that she had made herself invisible in order to run away more effectively. The closest places to Emma's heart where her mother's apartment and the home that she now shared with her girlfriend and their son, but Regina had a feeling that she was way too good at hide-n-seek to hide somewhere as obvious as those two locations though. Most likely Emma wouldn't go to the Sheriff's Station either since David would think to go there if her parents went looking for their daughter.

It was a long shot but Regina remembered something that Emma had told her the night that they kissed for only the second time. At the KidSpace opening party Emma had said that as a teenager she used to sneak into movie theatres to hide from her foster families and that she spent time at a youth shelter. Regina doubted that Emma would go to the movie theatre because it would be busy and there would be a chance that she'd run into Henry so that left only one possibility remaining.

Storybrooke had a youth shelter now and it seemed like the most likely hiding place since it would be closed at this time of night. Emma organised and maintained the charity for the benefit of the disadvantaged youth, teens, and kids living in Storybrooke in tough situations. A place where they could be themselves, be with each other, and get help.

Regina wondered now if Emma realised that it was her own inner child that she was trying to help. Perhaps each child she managed to help made her feel a little less damaged herself.

Regina's guess paid off when she turned up at KidSpace. It was dark but the light was on inside the dilapidated old building. She went in, careful not to make too much noise as she approached, and saw a familiar blonde slouched on the roughened-up old lounge. Emma had red cheeks and wet eyelashes like she'd been crying for a while.

Regina sat down next to her without a word, making a concerted effort not to grimace the second her clothes came into contact with the grubby faux-leather. The springs creaked as the lounge accepted her weight and the surface snapped like it was about to crack open and disintegrate.

"Hey," said Emma, sounding nasal from a stuffy nose.

Regina returned with her own. "Hey."

"So. You found me."

"If you're waiting for me to say the line don't hold your breath."

Emma chuckled, knowing exactly what she was talking about. The smile was short-lived and she looked back down to her lap where she was playing with the hem of her sweater. She sniffled again.

"I'm here to see if you're alright," said Regina. "If you didn't want me to find you so easily you should have picked a better hideout. But I will go if you want me to."

"No. Don't go." Emma scrubbed her hands over her splotchy face and groaned. "Argh, this is so embarrassing! My parents yell at me for the first time and I'm crying like a baby. I'm pathetic. I know they love me. Or at least, I should by now. But I just can't really believe it sometimes. I don't deserve them. What's wrong with me?"

Emma sighed. "I procrastinated about this whole border crisis thing when I should've been trying to do something about it. The town's going to hell and it  _is_  my job to figure it out. They're right. It is my fault…"

"Um, Regina? Feel free to jump in anytime with something reassuring."

Regina smiled and finally spoke after listening to Emma's thinking aloud. "I'm waiting for you to get to the part I disagree with. If you want I can formulate an itemised list of your many flaws and deficiencies to add to your self-deprecation?"

"You are such a bad girlfriend."

"I am not."

"Yes, you are. A good girlfriend would give me a kiss and tell me sweet things to make me feel better."

"So you want me to lie?"

"I want you to lie naked in my bed," quipped Emma. "That'll cheer me up."

_Trust her to try to derail the conversation with a dirty joke._  Regina knew exactly what she was up to. Things had gotten a little too emotional and Emma was still holding part of herself back. It might take a long time for Emma to feel truly secure with her family, and as frustrating as it was to deal with her every time she baulked and ran away, Regina still wanted it to be  _her_  that Emma could always come back to. Not that it was easy for her to restrain herself from giving her a piece of her mind as she was wont to do.

"Perhaps I will, sometime in your near future," Regina whispered it. She reached over to brush Emma's long blonde hair with the back of her fingers and tucked it behind her ear. It was enough of a touch to be a comfort but not an onslaught like a hug would be. Just enough to remind her of their physical connection.

"So what happened after I left?" said Emma. "Did my parents say anything to you?"

"They're afraid of what's going to happen. Your mother is sorry for what she said to you." Regina decided to leave out the part where she had lectured her former stepdaughter (future mother-in-law?) about parenting.

"Already?" said Emma, surprised. "It's true isn't it. She really is Snow White. She can't even be cross with her irresponsible daughter for long. It's hard to believe we fought in the first place. I must've really deserved it if she felt she had to step in and ream me out."

Regina sighed with a smile. "Dear, it is the prerogative of mothers to interfere in their children's lives. Mothers and daughters fight sometimes. It's an inevitable part of being close. Two people with nothing between them have nothing to fight about. You and I fight all the time."

"This feels different. They're my parents. I wanted all my life to find them so that I could ask them why they gave me up. Half the time I was convinced that they made a mistake and they really wanted me, but the rest of the time I figured that they knew something was wrong with me. I was desperate to find them but I also dreaded it. The rest of the world had rejected me, I knew it would hurt too much if my own family did."

"Giving you a lecture on your misbehaviour doesn't constitute a rejection," Regina pointed out.

"But I've never fought with Mary Margaret before! Even when we were roommates and I was slack with doing any housework, back then she had the patience of a saint. I don't want to fight with her. Ever."

Regina shrugged and offered what she thought was a condolence. "I fought with my mother all the time."

"That comparison is so not helpful. Did you ever actually win a fight with Cora?"

"It depends on your definition of victory. Sometimes I would deliberately disobey my mother in order to distract her from my plans to do something else that she would have disapproved I was angling for a new dress or to attend one of her gatherings I would mention wanting to cut my hair. Or I would feign interest in some masculine pursuit like hunting so that my running off for horseriding lessons suddenly seemed like the lesser of two evils."

Emma nodded thoughtfully as though picturing it in her mind. "I can see Ri doing that."

"I only realised later that my mother knew what I was up to the whole time."

"How? Did you get in trouble when she figured it out?"

"No. Mother had other ways of getting me back in line - with magic. If she didn't like what I was wearing, she'd change it. If she didn't like what I was saying, she'd take away my voice. I hated it when she used magic on me and she knew it. I may have won one or two battles along the way but she won the war."

"Uh, Regina, you know that's really fucked up right?"

"The point is she knew I was hiding something even when I thought I was getting away with it."

"Mothers just know that kind of thing huh?" Emma smiled.

"Oh yes," Regina put on a conspiratorial smile of her own. "We know everything but we don't tell that to the children. We wait and let them think they are getting away with whatever-it-is and only step in when, say, the kitchen is completely covered in flour and eggs, or if Mommy's cell phone is being planted in the garden so it can grow. The most suspicious thing in the world is a child who is suddenly quiet, believe me."

Emma pinned her with a look and Regina knew what was coming as she had been avoiding the question for some time. Now that time was the one thing they were running out of she couldn't get out of it indefinitely. Regina had opened the door herself by hinting at Henry's childhood mischief and her ability to detect it before disaster struck.

Emma took a deep breath to begin. "So Henry's been quiet for a while, what do you think he's up to? Not at the movies with Jenna, I mean with magic and all of this stuff that has been happening lately. Is Mommy Radar telling you he's involved?"

"Definitely."

"We're going to have to talk to him about his magic, whatever power or ability he has. I know you don't like it but-"

"Let's go."

Regina rose from the couch and re-shouldered her handbag in one swift movement. Emma was obviously confused by her sudden acquiescence after dragging her designer heels for weeks over having that very conversation with Henry. They had both been putting off dealing with aspects of this impending disaster. But now she was ready for action.

Emma paused and closed her gaping mouth. "Um ok. When you decide you really decide huh."

"It's not that. It's getting late and Mrs Meadows ought to be dropping Henry off soon. Coming?"

"Yes, I certainly will be," Emma said with a smirk. She got up to follow, making sure to turn off the lights and lockup on her way out.

* * *

"Which way do you want to go?" Ri asked, looking left and right at the edge of the kerb.

Em shrugged and said she didn't really mind, so they headed towards the park without actually deciding out loud to go there. They held hands as they walked and every time the back of her hand brushed against Ri's dress she could feel The Box in her pocket as if it were reminding her of its presence.

She could sense that Ri was nervous and wished that she could put them both out of their misery. Em dreaded whatever was coming but she felt guilty too every time Ri glanced at her like she was trying to get up her courage to re-introduce the topic. They were barely at the end of Mifflin Street by now and apparently Ri couldn't wait any longer.

"Em, I wanted to ask you something during dessert … and I can't help thinking that you don't want me to. You know what it is don't you."

"Yeah, sorry," said Em with a sigh. "I am freaking out but I'll hear what you have to say."

"Do you remember when we met in the woods?"

"Of course. It was the best day of my life."

"Mine too." Ri's voice shook a little but she grew more confident as she spoke. Em had the feeling that her girlfriend had planned it out and thought long and hard about what she was going to say tonight.

"...As soon as I saw you, I knew in my heart that you were the one. I've never loved anyone like I love you and I never will again. From the first moment, I wanted you. You make me smile and laugh, you take care of me and listen whenever I need to talk, you make me feel amazing when you touch me and you kiss me like I never want it to end.

"I can't believe that anyone has ever loved this way before, it's not possible, it's too much. Just think how unlikely it was for us to have met at all! It's astounding that we found each other, we've crossed worlds and time itself to be together. We're so lucky, Em. We've found our happy ending here.

"You amaze me. I think you went through a lot as a child, alone, and I'm so proud of you for overcoming all of that to become the wonderful, mature young woman I always knew you could be. It didn't happen straight away but you've grown close to your family, to your parents, and I especially love seeing how you are with Henry these days.

"And now our little baby boy is on his way and I'm so overwhelmingly happy. You're going to be a mother soon. I know that all you've ever wanted was to have a family and now you have that in us. So, that's why I want to make it official. I have not yet sought your parents' blessing but I'm certain they'll agree given your situation."

Em cocked an amused eyebrow. "My situation?"

"Yes, yours and mine. We really ought to be married at our ages. We're living like it, sharing a bed and such, and with a baby soon to be born it isn't proper for you to be unspoken for. I want to do the right thing by you."

"Oh my god, Ri!" shrieked Em. "Are you really suggesting that we have to get a shotgun wedding as if you need to defend my honour or something? That's so Jane Austen."

Ri's response was defensive. "What's wrong with that? Those books are lovely. There's one that was named after you, it's called ' _Emma_ '. Did you know? You are nothing like the main character though, she's-"

"Focus, Regina. The point is times have changed. I don't need to get married at all, even if I am knocked up. People are not gonna talk because of that and I don't care if they do, but they're sure as hell gonna have something to say about two girls being together. Like ninety per cent of your proposal was awesome but you really need to work on your closing argument. I don't want to get married because we have to or because our parents think we should. I only want to get married  _if I want to_."

Ri's face fell. "Oh. So you don't want to marry me?"

"That's not what I said. Don't be upset, please. You know I love you."

"But you don't want to marry me."

Em exhaled out of frustration. "I don't know! I haven't really thought about it much. We're too young anyway. There's no rush."

"Yes, there is. We're running out of time. I think-"

"I already know what you're thinking. You want us to get married because you think somehow it'll mean that you won't get forced into marrying some rich old noble when you go back, or you think you're already a spinster or something at the advanced age of eighteen. That's an arbitrary bullshit deadline that your mother has put in your head and it doesn't matter what we do here anyway because we both have to go back to our old lives eventually. That's why you're pushing this."

"That's not the only reason."

Ri dropped her hand and stopped walking. Her posture want all stiff and clenched and Em knew that she was trying to hide how she felt but was too stubborn to let the subject go. Em cupped her girlfriend's face gently, even though she didn't look up in return. She didn't want to hurt Ri any more than she already was by the rejection, even if she did have noble intentions.

"Hey, our pasts might be full of crap stuff but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to overwrite it with more mistakes. We're too young for what's going to happen to us. You're too young to be someone's trophy wife and I'm too young to be a single mother. I know it's common where you come from but we aren't ready to be in those roles. We deserve to live a bit and see the world before settling down. I don't want to be pressured into it. I don't want to do this before we're ready and then regret it later."

"You're assuming it will be a mistake, that it isn't going to end well."

"What will a piece of paper change? It won't change how we feel about each other and it won't change our being each other's family."

"Ok fine!" Ri said with some exasperation and her eyes were pleading to be understood. "I know all that. Yes, we don't have to. But to me, marriage has meaning and I just want to. I understand if you're not ready yet and I won't push you. But I still want to get married some day."

"Then yes, we will. Some day, when it's the right time. We'll get married and you can look gorgeous wearing your white floofy marshmallow of a dress and I'll stand up in front of everyone and promise to love, honour, and obey you... Wait, scratch that last one." Em grinned.

"Yes, I have no hope of getting you to do that." Ri gave her a wry glance.

"Sure you do. Just ask me to do something I already want to do."

Ri was ready with a challenge and she gave her order. "Kiss me. Long and hard."

They were both grinning when Em tilted Ri's chin and obliged her with exactly what she had asked for. The kiss was open-mouthed from the start, firm and demanding. She tried to lace her fingers with Ri's hand but instead the other girl grabbed fistfuls of her jumper to pull her close. She wasn't going to let her get away either. Their sweet little tug-o-war could have gone on forever.

Em ran out of breath so she had to break first. She buried her face in Ri's neck to leave smacking kiss noises there and then Ri got the giggles.

"Em, we're in public," she whispered.

"It's dark."

"Yes, but-"

"We just got engaged. It's expected."

Ri smiled like she wanted to cry happy tears. "We are? We're really engaged?"

"We're about to be engaged in  _something_ ," Em quipped.

"Later, at home. Let's finish our night-time stroll first."

"See? You don't have to put a ring on my finger to give me orders, you're getting me to do what you want right now..."

They started walking again, quietly talking about anything and everything. Or sometimes lapsing into comfortable silences and enjoying the stillness of the darkened streets of suburban Storybrooke. With the pressure of the topic of marriage relieved they were more at ease with each other and Ri seemed far less devastated than Em expected she would have been about putting off the question of marriage until they were older. Maybe, being a sheltered girl from another world, Ri liked being able to do the asking for once, instead of sitting around at home being waited upon or drinking tea until someone eligible was arranged to take her off her parents' hands. Regina certainly enjoyed being the one in control and having a hand in her own destiny.

Once they arrived at the park Ri led her over to a bench so they could sit and cuddle for a while. There was a little scuffle over who was going to be the hugger and who was going to be the huggee. It was a to-and-fro that they'd had a few times before and Em liked the fact that they could swap roles every now and again. She usually ended up in the stronger positions but secretly she loved it when Ri got fiercely protective of her and, most especially, of the baby. Tonight, Em lost the scuffle but her consolation prize was leaning back into Ri's arms and being held. She was really starting to get used to having that melty loved-up feeling available whenever she wanted it.

Knowing that at least she was giving her baby over to someone like Ri made her feel a little less heartbroken over the decision. The promise of "some day" was something they both would both have to hold onto, until the three of them were reunited in the future.  _Some day we'll be together again. Some day I'll have my son back. Some day we'll get married..._

Ri slipped her hand under Em's shirt to rest on her bare tummy and draw circles. She then spent the next fifteen minutes asking her all about how she was feeling and reassuring her about how beautiful and desirable she was.  _Someone has been on the google again_ , Em thought to herself. She had seen the pages that Ri had been looking at in her phone's internet browser history - guides for dads-to-be and advice on being emotionally supportive to one's pregnant spouse.

Poor Ri. She was trying so hard to be supportive. She neither fit the bill for an expectant mother nor a father-to-be. All of the attention was falling on Em with regards to the pregnancy and Em knew that Ri must have feelings of her own about it that she was bottling up inside. Not the least of which was the question of what her connection to the child actually turned out to be. Luckily it didn't take much prodding to get her to open up. All it ever took for the deluge to start was for someone to ask...

"I feel left out," Ri confessed. "You and the baby have a special bond already that I'm not a part of. I thought maybe I could give him my name and protect your reputation, since that's all I can do for you both right now."

"You're not left out and you are doing so much for us already."

"But I feel so useless!"

"Do you know how you've saved me? Before I told you about the baby I was miserable when I thought I was doing this alone. You're always going out of your way to put me first and to make me feel special. I've literally never had anyone do that for me before. If I know what it is to be truly loved it's only because of you. The baby knows you love him too, just ask him."

Ri tried not to pout and failed. "He can't talk yet. You said he's only the size of a jellybutton."

"Jelly _bean_."

"That's what I meant! I did! I know what those are. They're sugary confections in the garb of coloured legumes. I also know how the internet works, I can safely manage all of the home appliances, and thanks to Henry I know more about The Fantastic Four than is strictly necessary. I've been here in this world long enough now, you can't accuse me of being a martian with any degree of accuracy any more."

"You are sweeter than all the things, Ri."

"I am not! I'm - wait, what? ... Oh. You're laughing at me."

Em snickered. "I might be."

She fidgeted in her spot and something dug into her back. It was that box again reminding her of its presence. Em reached into the pocket of Ri's dress and got a playful slap on the wrist for her trouble. She turned over her shoulder to face her. "Hey, what'sat for? I want to see what's in that box you've been hiding all night."

Ri raised her chin loftily. "You didn't want it remember? You'll have to wait now. How frustrating for you to have to wait several decades for it."

"As if I've got the patience for that. Come on, show me what's in the box."

"Mn-mn." Ri shook her head once.

"Show me!" Em started tickling Ri by squeezing her thigh until the other teen caved. She retrieved the small black velvet box and held it out on her palm. The spring of the lid opened with a soft creak. A bridal set rested in the pillow: a gold engagement ring with a green stone and a plain flat gold wedding ring that matched. The too nestled together and fit perfectly with one another by design.

"It's ok if you don't like it..." mumbled Ri.

Em smiled. "I do, it's pretty. But you know what I'm like with jewelry - not good. Here, I got an idea."

She took the set and separated the two parts: she slid the ring onto Ri's finger and then pulled her necklace out from under her shirt and put the gold ring on the chain to wear around her own neck. As soon as they both had their half, each girl realised without voicing it that they had seen their older selves wearing the same jewelry. But they hadn't noticed before, not until just this moment after they'd acquired the gold pieces for themselves. It was a little secret to keep for themselves.

Emma and Regina didn't have memories of coming to Storybrooke and so they didn't remember getting engaged as teenagers or anything else that had happened between them. They each still wore their engagement jewelry without knowing its significance. Even so, Em wondered if their lookalikes had gotten around to the question of marriage yet. After all, they were old and boring. What else was there left for them to do in life?

"You're not still upset, are you?" Em asked her, a little concerned after Ri was quiet and thoughtful for a while.

Ri's answer was a soft, "No."

"Yes, you are. I always know when you're lying."

"I've been thinking of something else I want to do. I can trust you with anything can't I?"

"Yes."

Ri bit her lip and voiced her request. "I'd like you come with me to my parents' graves."

* * *

_108 Mifflin Street_

The car ride home was only a short trip but Regina and Emma had spent the time discussing the border crisis further. They were still no closer to having even half a strategy for dealing with it than they had been at the very first Council meeting many weeks ago. But something had to be done soon.

"Otherwise my parents will lose their memories," Emma was saying as they entered the house. "They'll forget me permanently this time. I only just found them. I can't lose them again."

"That won't happen," said Regina. She dropped her keys alongside Emma's on the side table in the foyer. "Despite what the War Council says about you being the leader you don't have to do this alone. We both have magic so perhaps there's a way to use  _our_  magic."

"But how? I didn't want to be the Saviour or anything. I didn't even realise I had magic powers until last year. I have no idea about any of it."

"I think it's time we asked for help. We need to ask Mr Gold. He has been far too hidden away lately to not be plotting something."

Emma noticed the house was completely silent and she couldn't magically detect anyone. "Hey, Regina. Where are the girls?"

"Hm, I don't know. They were supposed to be at home tonight."

Regina went upstairs to check the girls' bedrooms in case they were sequestered away for some alone time.

Emma looked around, scanning for clues with the trained eye of someone used to tracking down sneaky people who did not want to be found. The downstairs lights had been switched on upon entering but the house was empty apparently. The dining table was still set and the dishes were resting on the sink waiting to be washed. It looked like the girls had a nice dinner date at home by themselves and then went out.

In the kitchen, Emma picked up one of the used bowls from the sink and stared at it as though it held the key to all of life's questions. That was how Regina found her when she returned.

"Ri left a note on our bed," said Regina, holding up a small piece of notepaper with neat handwriting visible on it. "The girls went for a late-night stroll."

"Do you see this?" said Emma. She swiped her index finger on the inside of the bowl and tasted it on her tongue. "Chocolate icecream. With cinnamon."

"Fascinating. Would you like to lick the rest of them clean or shall I load the dishwasher instead."

"This is Em's dessert bowl and that one is Ri's because it's vanilla. They didn't eat it all. Em would never turn down icecream or leave any untouched. Maybe they decided to go out before dessert was finished for some reason.  _And_  this bowl of chocolate icecream has a half-eaten celery stick in it."

Regina crossed her arms with some impatience, waiting for her to get to the point. "What does that mean besides a pair of teenagers making a mess of their food?"

"Greens, nothing but greens..." Emma murmured to herself and then looked up at Regina with a troubling revelation in her eyes.

"It means that Em is pregnant."

 


	53. Stalking

"Do you realise what this means?" said Emma seriously. She picked up the half-eaten stick of celery and held it out like it was a smoking gun.

"I suppose it means Em wanted celery," said Regina, unconvinced. "Wanting to eat vegetables is not a pathognomonic symptom for pregnancy. Don't hold it up like that, you'll drip chocolate icecream all over the floor."

Regina snatched the celery stalk with two fingers and carefully dispensed with it. She grabbed a few sheets of paper towel from the dispenser and knelt down to clean up the drips. Emma watched her, growing more incredulous that she wasn't taking this seriously.

"Celery for dessert. With icecream?!" said Emma. "It means something."

"It means you are going to mop the floor this weekend. Properly."

"Regina, listen to me! Celery is green. Em would never eat that. Who the hell likes celery anyway. It's gross. When I was a kid I never ate anything green if I could help it, right up until I got pregnant with Henry. Then I started craving greens something shocking. Em didn't even know what an asparagus looked like before she got to Storybrooke when you and Mary Margaret started feeding her properly."

Emma paused before another lightbulb flashed for her, illuminating the clues her mind had unconsciously picked up over the last few weeks. She should have realised before, why had it taken her so long to put all of the pieces together? It was her own younger self. She should know Em better than anyone. She knew what was coming in her seventeen-year-old self's life but she didn't expect it to be so soon.

"Have you seen her boobs lately? She's stopped wearing her bra. Because it doesn't fit her anymore. I went up three cup sizes… And the other day! When I came home from work late she knew I'd been to see Ruby because she could smell the wolf fur in my clothes… She's sleeping a lot but she's always tired... She looks sick at dinnertime because of the meat…"

"Oh my god," said Emma, wide-eyed with the shock. "I got pregnant here?  _Before_  I went back and met Neal? But I don't remember it that way. Why don't I remember?

"Neither of us remembers coming to Storybooke as a teenager," said Regina, shaking her head slowly like she was still trying to process the idea.

"How did this happen? This isn't how it happened."

"Maybe it's that events aren't happening the same way as they did the first time but our memories aren't being replaced for some reason. The timeline is being overwritten for them. Or maybe this is the way it always was and we just didn't know it."

Emma stopped in her tracks from the pacing she was doing. "If that's true it would mean our memories are wrong. The girls fell in love with each other first instead of with Daniel and Neal. Ri got her scar here and it was Em's fault instead of Daniel's. Em got pregnant here and it was-"

_... Ri's fault instead of Neal's? God no, that can't be true. It can't,_  thought Emma.

As though reading her unspoken thoughts Regina said quietly, "Neal is in New York."

Emma glared and stabbed her pointed finger at her. "NO. Stop it, Regina. I know where you're going with this. Neal is Henry's father, he has to be. Em ran away after she had the fight with Ri, remember? She was gone for two nights. She must have slept with him then, before he went back to New York. She found out that Henry is her kid and she knows I had him when I was eighteen. I'm telling you, she did this to make it happen."

"Does that make sense to you?" Regina argued. "Em doesn't even know who Neal is. They never met. She only found out the truth about Henry being hers  _after_  she ran away, not before. She could be mistaken for you by a casual observer but anyone who knows you well enough can tell the difference. If Em did what you're saying don't you think Neal would've realised that it wasn't you? He is useless but surely he would realise that it was your seventeen year old self propositioning him to cheat on his fiance."

"Maybe Em and Neal bumped into each other and didn't tell us about it. Maybe they've been carrying on together all this time."

"Do you really think Em could do that to Ri? You know yourself, you know her. You've seen how much she loves Ri. Do you think that she would have sex with anyone else right now? Could  _you_  do that to me?"

"I don't know anything anymore. Except that this is crazy."

"Emma-"

"What?" she glared. "What other explanation is there? How else did she end up pregnant then if she didn't have sex with Neal. This isn't some kind of religious miracle."

"I never said it was."

"Then what is it!"

"Storybrooke is changing, time is affecting our memories. We both have magic and-"

"What the hell!" Emma laughed. "You can't possibly believe that. You think Henry was somehow spontaneously conceived by our magic? That he was 'born out of the force' like Anakin Skywalker? This isn't a Star Wars movie, it's real life. You can't really believe in all that lesbian parthenogenesis crap. It's just ridiculous."

" _I'm_  being ridiculous?! We don't even know if it's true. You're the one making wild leaps based on a salad vegetable."

"This is impossible."

"Is that so?" Regina raised her eyebrows to mock her in that annoying way she had and with as much disdain in her voice as possible. "You've been here long enough to know that you can't trust your skepticism. Is this how you reacted last year when Henry told you about magic and fairytales and the curse and you wouldn't believe him? All of it turned out to be real but you wouldn't entertain the idea seriously. Even when it all started to add up. It made more sense than reality yet you  _still_  wouldn't believe it. Our son deliberately ate poison because YOU didn't believe in him."

Emma was shaking with anger by now and only controlling it by clenching her fists at her sides. The image of her son lying still as death in a hospital bed came to mind as well as the terror she always felt at the reminder of how she had almost lost him. How fragile a child's life was! His precious existence had nearly slipped away for good…

"No! He did that because of YOU, Regina. Because of your fucking insane crusade against my mother."

Regina went on gathering bravado. "You didn't believe she was your mother back then, even though you felt closer to her than anyone you'd ever met. Even I saw it. The truth was staring at you in the face and you would have none of it. Just like now. You said yourself that you wished you'd never broken my curse, it was your skepticism that kept it intact. I nearly won."

"You mean you nearly killed my son is what you did!"

"Henry is our s-"

"Not like  _that_ ," Emma snapped. "Henry only had one mother and that's me. You have no idea of what it's like to be a real mother, Regina. To have a life growing inside you that you created, a life that is a part of your own body for nine months. It changes everything. It turned my world upside down. I was just a stupid kid at the time but the only thing I knew was that every decision I made had to be what was best for my baby. He is as much a part of me as my own heart is. It's  _my_  blood running through his veins, he kicked  _my_  ribs all night,  _I_  was the one who gave birth to him and brought him into the world. I'll decide what happens to him, not you."

"He is MY SON!" Regina screamed it. She raised her hands and then clenched them into fists at her sides. "I am not going to defend that claim against you any longer, Emma Swan. Of course I'm aware that I didn't have him biologically, but he is mine and I have never cared about his genetic history. I thought you understood that. I'm sick to death of people thinking I'm somehow less his mother because I adopted him. Henry is legally my child, that will never change.

_"_ If he had never come to Boston you would've lived the rest of your life without knowing him at all. You're only in his life now because I permit it.  _I_  was the one who raised him and gave him a home.  _I_  am the one who has always been there for him.  _You_  abandoned him at birth and forgot about him for a decade. You gave up your right to make decisions for him ten years ago. You do notget to change your mind about that now."

They were mere inches away from each other. Tthe fight was growing into the kind of screaming match that was only fought by lovers. Their differences and strong wills had caused many of the fights between them but this time they were fighting over what was common to them both. Their relationship had always been volatile and the topic of Henry caused sparks that set the kindling afire.

"I gave him up  _because_  I loved him!" said Emma, hoarse from yelling. "I never forgot him for one minute of those ten years. If I have to fight you for him I will."

Regina butted in. "I'll do anything I can to stop you."

"If I take him you'll never find us."

"I will  _never_  let go of my son! All I need is a single phone call and I can make sure you never see him again."

"You'll lose him anyway if you continue with this Evil Queen routine. It's so easy for you to slip back into character isn't it?"

" _You_  will lose him as well if you don't learn to grow up and act like a parent instead of a child. You still run off at the first sign of relationship trouble. Will you abandon Henry again one day?"

Emma flinched at the biting reference to the hardest decision she'd ever had to make. "That was low. I am not that person anymore."

"And I," Regina enunciated each word clearly at the same soft volume. "Am not the Evil Queen anymore."

The threats were on the table now. It was a standoff. Neither knew who would be the first to break and make good on her threat. They were both aware that by coming full circle with this argument they were back to when they first met and began fighting over who Henry's real mother was. Every bit of progress they'd made in their relationship with regards to parenting their son seemed lost. Were they eternally doomed to having this Sisyphean fight over and over?

Emma broke their heated staring contest first and as soon as she turned around Regina gave her a shove in the back with two flat hands. There wasn't much force in it but it reminded her of being magically thrown across the pavement out the front of the house. It was obvious that Regina was trying to provoke her on purpose, perhaps to stop her leaving. It was a challenge, an invitation to make the fight physical, and Emma was determined not to retaliate like she had in the past when she had thrown a punch at her in the cemetery. Regina must know that she would only lose a physical fight. What she wanted was for Emma to give her an excuse to fight back with magic.

_But I am not going to,_  she vowed.

Even if she could barely contain her anger, Emma wasn't going to play this game again. She was not going to give Regina permission to wield her favourite weapon. Her self-control was fraying fast but the last thing she wanted to do was lose it and hit her. The guilt had eaten away at her last time and that had been when she had hated her. How much worse it would be now to cause her harm.

" _Don't_  push me." Emma turned only enough to let her eyes convey a final parting sign of contempt. She headed for the front door to the house without stopping to collect her jacket and car keys from the sidetable. Her hand closed over the door handle, ready to open it.

"Where are you going?" demanded Regina. "I presume you're running off somewhere since this is getting too difficult?"

"There's a way to settle this. By asking someone who knows the truth," said Emma, now deceptively calm but only on the outside. She pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"No!" cried Regina. "You can't call Em. If she really is pregnant she may not even realise it yet for god's sake. Think of what you'll be doing to her and Ri by asking such a thing. It'll tear them apart. Look what it's doing to us! Don't destroy their happiness as well as ours. I forbid you to ask Em if she slept with Neal."

"Because you've made up in your mind that Henry's really yours too. You're afraid of the truth."

"I don't think I'm the one who's afraid here. Look at you, you're terrified. Why does this scare you so much? Do you think that it will all go away if you run fast enough from it?"

Emma shook her head and pulled the door open. She stared at the doorknob in her hand. "I can't take any more of this. It's crazy. Magic is crazy."

"Fine!" said Regina, barely getting the word out from clenched jaws. "Leave if that's what you want. But if you walk out that door, Emma Swan, don't bother coming back."

* * *

Regina strode out of the foyer and went back into the kitchen, leaving Emma behind to do whatever she was going to do. She had to get away from her for a minute, knowing all too well what she was capable of when feeling this angry. The two of them had fought there so many times before: in the foyer, the hallway, the porch…

_When she accused me of murdering Archie I tossed her with magic and she landed hard on the pavement. I'll never forget the look of shock on her face… it wasn't because it was the first time she'd seen magic, but it was the first time she'd seen me use magic. Violently. Against her. She wasn't hurt much that time but I could have done far worse..._

That was it. If she resorted to magic during another fight at this stage of their relationship she would surely lose Emma forever.

To distract her trembling hands Regina busied herself by picking up random dishes utensils and putting them back where they belonged. But there wasn't enough to do and after a few minutes she opened the cupboard door under the sink where a single stick of celery sat at the top of the trash. She stared at it.

Regina only just managed to keep her control as the anger boiled and frothed inside her. The fight was fresh in her mind and Emma's words still stung. The implication that she was blindly accepting some twee idea like a love-addled fool was extremely irritating. After all of the things the former Evil Queen had seen in other lands this was hardly the most ridiculous. She hadn't even suggested it before Emma had shot it down. As usual the stubborn Sheriff was being her dogmatic practical self, resistant to anything she couldn't see or touch for proof. Emma was probably still cranky from the fight with her parents and taking it out on her. Her patience with the least attractive parts of Emma's personality was completely exhausted tonight.

_Could it really be true?_

She hadn't believed Emma's celery theory but the other symptoms made sense. She had noticed Em's tiredness and growing bust as well but had passed them off as adolescence.

Was Em really pregnant with Henry? Did the young girl even know yet? If so, why hadn't she confided in Regina? There had been a perfect opportunity the other day. Em had come to snuggle up with her in the home office and asked her questions about motherhood and about adopting Henry. She could have told her then. Maybe she hadn't told Ri yet and wanted her to be the first one she told, or maybe Em still distrusted adults too much to ask for help.  _Even me?_

_Emma doesn't trust you either and why would she? You just kicked her out of her home..._

Regina could feel herself start to panic over what she'd done. She had told the woman she loved to leave with such finality when it was actually the last thing she wanted. Why did she always react this way?! Emma was probably left standing there wondering if she was supposed to get out or not from yet another place where the former foster child was no longer welcome. In her haste to be away from her Regina had walked away without a second glance.

She never turned around to see Emma whether had paused in the doorway. She did not wait and watch her leave or make sure she stayed. Nor did she hear the front door eventually shut with a soft snick.

But Regina did notice her absence later, when she couldn't see anyone else in the house no matter how hard she searched. Emma was gone. She really had left her.

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment, Storybrooke_

The persistent knocking outside sent Mary Margaret padding over to the door at a run wearing only her nightgown. Urgency hastened her steps but her slippered feet threatened to lose traction on the smooth floorboards. David followed her downstairs, in a similar state of undress in just his pyjama pants. They'd both gone to bed already but not to sleep.

When she opened the door Regina was there, impeccably dressed as always but with frantic alarm in her manner. Mary Margaret's initial questions as to what she was doing there and if everything was ok went unanswered, Regina kept trying to search the apartment in the background until she was ushered inside.

The door hung open by itself for a second too long until it closed, but none of them noticed and an unseen figure slipped through.

"Where is she!" demanded Regina.

"Who?" said David, completely confused. "Emma? It's late. Isn't she with you?"

"Where is Emma. She is here, I know it."

"We haven't seen her since she disappeared earlier. She hasn't come home yet?" Mary Margaret tried to put a comforting hand to Regina's arm but the stubborn woman would have none of it and jerked away.

"Tell us what's wrong. Why are you here?" said the schoolteacher.

"Because Emma is here of course," said Regina impatiently. "Where else would she go? I found her at Kidspace but then we had a fight as soon as we got home. Now she's gone again."

"Oh," Mary Margaret sighed, assuming that it was just a lover's spat. "Poor Emma is having a rough time today. I'm sure she'll be back when she calms down. All couples fight. It's normal."

Regina curled her lip. "Yes, it is certainly normal for  _us_. But this time was different."

"What happened?" said David. "Maybe we can help."

Regina closed her eyes for a second, apparently reconsidering coming here at all. All three of them knew that this was the last place the former queen would want to go to for help so she must have been desperate. The Charmings would help her in a heartbeat if she'd let them (that fact alone would be annoying to Regina), but they knew that as soon as the distressed woman began to talk that there must be something very wrong.

"Henry." Regina was becoming increasingly emotional as she went over the fight in her mind and the threats she'd made. "We fought over Henry. I told her I'd never let her see him again. She left. She's going to take him from me!"

"Emma wouldn't do that," said Mary Margaret.

"What are you talking about," snapped Regina. "Of course she would! She has threatened to do that very thing since the day she arrived here. She's his mother too, that's how I know she'd do whatever is necessary to keep him safe. That's what  _I_  would do. "

"Are you sure?" said David. "You three are are a family now. He's both of yours."

Regina smiled ironically. "If you only knew how true that was."

"What I think David means," said Mary Margaret. "Is that whatever happens in your romantic relationship, you and Emma will have to figure out how to co-parent together. Neither of you is the sole parent of Henry anymore. You're irreversibly part of each other's lives now. I'm sure Emma knows that. It's not just you that's changed, she has as well."

Mary Margaret managed to convince Regina into sitting down and then she and David took to the chairs too. Regina sat there solemnly in silence, staring into space as though she was trying to figure everything out on her own. They were waiting for her to speak for many minutes.

Regina leaned her face into her palm with her elbow on the armrest, for the first time her posture looked defeated rather than elegant. "She's not coming back. Not to me."

"It was you who told us that Emma thinks like an orphan," said Mary Margaret gently. "She still wants to run from her problems but not as much as she wants a family. You've helped her to see that she can have that again. You and Emma have built a home together."

"No. We haven't," Regina contradicted. "When she moved in with me I told her it was her home now too but she mustn't have really believed it. When we fought tonight I told her to leave and not come back. If she considered it her home she would never have allowed me to kick her out. I gave her the very thing that her heart desires most and then ripped it away. She'll never forgive me for that."

Mary Margaret smiled sympathetically. "I know things seem dire right now. It always does during a fight but it'll all work out in the end."

"I don't live in your perfect world, Snow. I know this must be terribly difficult for your overly-idealistic heart to grasp, but in my world people die and happy endings get snatched away. Emma and I are two broken people and maybe there was a time when it was possible for us to heal but it's too far in the past now. When you take two broken things and put them together you don't get something whole."

"You two are good for each together. I've seen it."

"I'm not good for anyone, let alone someone like Emma. With her gone everyone will start to see me for what I am and then no-one will be willing to help me anymore, believe me."

"We're here," David reminded her.

"You're family to us too, Regina," said Mary Margaret.

"After everything I've done to change..." said Regina, with the weary bitterness that comes from waiting for subtle changes that take too long to be noticed. "I've lost it all now and I can feel my heart changing already. I feel fear and pain so strongly that it obscures everything else. It took Emma and I a long time to build our relationship, to trust each other, and yet we destroyed it in an instant. That's how tenuous this is. She was right. It's too easy for me to slip back into my character. I don't know why I bother anymore. Without her I don't need to be concerned with doing the right thing. I'm free to do what needs to be done. Whatever it takes."

When Regina rose to her feet and then headed for the door, Mary Margaret and David shared a look of alarm and jumped up too.

Mary Margaret followed her. "Regina, wait. Where are you going? What are you going to do? You don't need Emma to be good. She supported you but you did it on your own. You can still-"

"Coming here was a waste of time," Regina cut her off.

"Wait. Don't go-" Mary Margaret reached out to take Regina's arm. At the contact she felt an electric shock and jerked her arm back with a cry of pain. "Ahh!"

"Mary Margaret!" David rushed over and cradled her arm. He looked toward Regina with a frown. "What did you do to her?"

"I didn't-" Regina seemed confused by their reactions at first.

For once she hadn't meant to harm her former enemy. She was starting to lose control over her anger and hence her magic too. There was no point trying to explain that to their hurt accusing faces though. There was no point waiting till she got outside before performing dark magic.

First Emma, then Mary Margaret and David… would she lose Henry's trust in the next fight? He was the only one she could never live with losing. If he turned against her, she would truly be lost. If it came to down to it she knew he wouldn't side with her against Emma and Charmings. The question was: would he side with them against her?

Regina threw her hands over her head and disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke. It was over.

* * *

Seconds after her former stepmother disappeared Mary Margaret covered her face and groaned, "What a mess! I'm going to go grey worrying about those girls."

"You and me both," agreed David. "Where do you think Regina went?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think she might … um..."

"Go evil?" guessed Mary Margaret. She rubbed her forearm absentmindedly as her husband came up behind her to rest his hands on her shoulders. "She didn't mean to zap me, David. I'm fine. Regina spoke of feeling angry but to me she seemed more afraid than angry. She is dangerous in either mode I suppose, but I know what she's like as the Evil Queen and this wasn't like that. She probably went home in case Emma turns up."

"Would Emma really take Henry? It's not like Regina's got anywhere to go if she tries to stop her and gets to him first. She can't leave town because of the border."

Mary Margaret winced. "Emma almost kidnapped him once before. I don't know if Regina ever found out about that. If she has, then she probably feels justified in worrying. I thought they'd worked things out by now instead of fighting over who has Henry. I only hope he doesn't get caught in the middle of all this. Where IS my daughter?!"

The pixie-haired schoolteacher grabbed her phone from the dining table and started calling Emma but all of her attempts went unanswered.

_Please, please, please. Pick up, Emma!..._

Mary Margaret and David jumped at some loud knocking that insisted on the apartment door again. They were both disappointed in not seeing their daughter when David opened it. Instead there was Leroy surrounded in the hallway by the other members of Snow White's War Council: the dwarves, Archie, Marco, Ruby, and Granny. All of them were in various forms of nightwear, pyjamas and slippers (or, in Ruby's case, a flimsy short red nightgown that was somewhere between slightly and extremely see-through).

"What is it?" said Mary Margaret. "Did something happen?"

"You guys better come in," said David, stepping aside.

When they spilled into the apartment they surrounding the Charmings in a circle, all of them talking over the top of each other. The din was distracting. No-one noticed the door open and close for a second time all by itself. Whoever the unseen figure had been, they had stayed silent the entire time Regina was there and then left soon after she had. Presumably the unknown stalker would try to follow her next move.

"Everyone shh!" said Mary Margaret, holding up her hands. "Use your indoor voices or there'll be detention. One at a time."

"Leroy," David picked him to explain what was going on. "Tell us what's wrong."

"It's here!" cried the dwarf. "The border is closing in. There's trouble a-brewin' in the town. We're out of time."


	54. Unbroken

**Double Trouble 54**

**Chapter 54 'Unbroken'**

_Mills vault, Storybrooke Memorial Grounds_

"I think it's locked," said Em. She pulled on the handle of the double doors that barred unwanted entry to the crypt.

Ri had heard from Regina that her parents were buried there, her father, ever since Storybrooke had existed, and her mother, more recently. Her older self had not wanted to elaborate on the facts surrounding their deaths nor her personal feelings about them but Ri had been both saddened by her parents' inevitable mortality and curious to see the vault for herself.

"Let me try," suggested Ri. She took over testing the lock and after a few attempts it obeyed her will. The little puff of yellow smoke dissipated and then she pushed the door open a couple inches.

"How'd you do that," Em smiled appreciatively. "Magic?"

"I'm not sure, it may be some form of blood magic. I've heard of such things as blood locks, designed to keep intruders at bay. They are infallible and not vulnerable to tricks or pretenses. Their only flaw is the assumption that the people you are trying to keep out are not family relations. Sometimes the danger is already on the inside of one's house."

"Hm," Em joked. "Sounds like one of those things that makes me glad I don't have family. Or a house."

Ri noticed Em's teeth chattering and when she took her hand she felt that it was cold. Guilt nagged at her and she now regretted dragging her girlfriend out here in the chilly weather, late at night. Maybe she should have come alone.

"You're freezing, Em. We'll go straight home after this and run you a hot bath before bed ok."

"Deal. Provided you get in with me."

Em used her iPhone's flashlight app to shed light inside and the girls peeked through the doorway. There were some candles burning in the alcoves of the inner walls casting a gloomy flicker over them in the shadows.

The teenagers entered the dusty crypt. They were overcome by the oppressive smell of musty age and the creep factor of being near death. The stone walls and floor meant it was just as cold inside as out. It seemed a smaller room with the both of them in there because most of the space was taken up by a large stone sarcophagus in the centre of the room.

Em's attention was drawn to various curiosities and artefacts that were stored in the alcoves. Some were books or bottles of unknown content. Others were recognisable but were creepy-as-hell given the context. Like the dried crocodile foot, the hoofing knife, or the large tome that appeared to be bound in real skin and exerted the soft sound of breathing from between the pages.

"Don't touch anything," warned Ri.

"I wasn't going to," said Em, hastily drawing back from reaching out to touch the latest oddity that had caught her eye. Unbeknownst to Ri, who was facing the other way, the practiced thief had already filched something and then hidden it in the pocket of her hoodie. She wasn't entirely sure what it was but if it came from the Evil Queen's secret lair then it must be something cool.

"I bet you will come in handy later," Em whispered to her stolen object.

Ri looked around the crypt herself but she was far less interested in magical knick knacks. Unable to avoid it any longer her eyes sought out the plate on the coffin on which her father's name was inscribed. It read: 'Beloved father, Henry Mills Snr'. There was a bouquet of fresh white lilies laying on top that must have been left recently by her older self. She walked around the small space examining it from all angles. Her hand trailed across the surface leaving voids in the dust. Tears came to her eyes.

"Daddy..."

Em came up behind her to offer to wrap her up in her arms but Ri was tensed into herself and barely noticed the other girl's presence. Ever since the young Regina had learned about casting the curse in her future's past the lilt in her step became weighed down and each one brought her closer to the darkness that encroached upon her life. The friends and family she'd found here in Storybrooke had helped her deal with so much but this was the part of her future that she would have to go through alone.

"Are you ok, Ri?" asked Em, sounding concerned.

"No." Ri realised as she said it. "I'm not ok. Em, go wait outside."

"But-"

"Please. I want to be alone with my parents. I have something I need to say. I don't want you here for this."

Em's face was full of such pity and sadness for her that Ri almost couldn't bear it. This was  _her_  grief, it was only about  _her_. Ever since they had met, everything had been about them both and they had been perpetually attached at the hips. But now, for once, Ri preferred to have some space to herself. Em had grown up not knowing what it was like to have parents and therefore knew nothing about losing them. Death had not touched her world yet and Ri was glad of it. A girl who was currently creating a new life within her should have nothing to do with a place of death.

"Ten minutes, please?" said Ri.

Em looked like she was dying to argue. Ri knew if the situations were reversed she wouldn't want to leave her girlfriend to deal with her grief alone either. But she would respect Em's wishes as Em would now respect hers, however hard it was in practice.

"Okay, ten minutes." Em said reluctantly. "But I'll be right outside if you need me."

Ri smiled. "I know."

"FYI, if you want a shoulder to cry on, it just so happens that I have two."

Even at such a time as this Em Swan couldn't help being charming. She went outside via the crypt's door and poked her head around the gap for one last look.

As soon as the other girl was gone, Ri chanced another look at the coffin now that she was alone. Her chin trembled and the tears broke free to run down her cheeks. It wasn't merely grief and sadness that filled her heart. It was anger.

_How could I have done this to my own father! I don't understand. I lost more in casting the curse than anyone else did in being one of its victims. Why did no-one try to stop me from hurting myself?_

_Daddy, why didn't YOU stop me. Did you try? Or did you let me have my own way in everything the same way you did with my mother? You would have been the only one I might have listened to. A father ought to protect his child, even from herself._

_Did you know what I was planning to do to you? Would you have tried to change my mind if you had? Perhaps you sacrificed yourself so that I might be happy in the new life I wanted to create. A life that came to include my darling boy. But you didn't know that at the time! Your sacrifice turned out to be worth it in the end but it was not for the right reasons. Can I live with what I've done?_

It would be strange talking to someone who appeared not to be there and who probably was too far gone into the next world to hear a word that was being said to them. She swiped at her tears and gathered her thoughts into what she wanted to say to the one she had loved most from her earliest years. Her words started out shakily.

"Hi Daddy. It's me, Regina. I miss you so much..."

Ri imagined her father's kindly face and told him all about her adventures in Storybrooke. She smiled when she told him about meeting Em and finally getting to experience the love she had wished for so many times in her early teens when she had been young and hopeful. If he could hear her at all now, she wanted him to think of her that way. Instead of how he had last seen her.

"I'm so sorry, Daddy. You must have died thinking of me as the Evil Queen, a daughter so bloodthirsty for revenge that I- … I can't even say it aloud! I am sick to my stomach at the thought of it. I wish you knew how I ended up as my older self. She's ok now. It took a long time but she came through it eventually. I think she's as happy as she can be, and she has Emma and Henry to help her now. I wish you could have had the chance to know my son. He's so beautiful and smart. I believe I would do anything for my child. I would kill for his sake or die myself if I had to… and that's how I know why you did what you did, because you would have done anything for your child too. I love you."

A loud clink of metal scattered on the stone floor. Ri startled and looked down at her feet where a curved U-shape lay, something that had definitely not been there a second ago. The familiar object was immediately recognisable. She bent down to pick it up, turning it over in her hands. It wasn't just any old horseshoe. This one was not made from modern steel instead it was smithy iron, rusted with age.

"Rocinante!" she gasped.

Father had acquired the black stallion who became her favourite childhood steed and best friend. It was he who had named the horse Rocinante, after the skinny horse in the novel Don Quixote which father and daughter had read together. It was her father who encouraged her to learn to ride and it soon became her favourite pastime (and an endless point of contention with her mother).

Horseshoes were superstitious objects used for good luck or sometimes as charms against witchcraft. Had her father sent it as a gift, a reminder of happier times? Was the shoe a sign from him that all was well between them? Or was it more sinister, a warning perhaps.

The smell of iron transferred to her skin and now her palms smelled like old dried blood.

Ri noticed there was something else on the floor near her feet where the sarcophagus met the stonework. There were scrapes marring the ground as though something large and heavy had been pushed or dragged across it. They disappeared under the coffin.

Was there something underneath?

Ri crouched into position, leaning her shoulder against the wall of the sarcophagus. She pushed against it, putting all of her weight behind the effort of moving it. The heavy stone gave way and cleared a gap in the floor to reveal a staircase leading to a hidden area. It seemed there was more below the surface of this crypt than there was above it.

She was too curious to not go on exploring.

* * *

Downstairs her mother's coffin rested in an ante-room of its own. It was the sound of beating hearts that led her to it. At first the rhythms pounded softly and grew into a deafening crescendo as Ri approached. She tried not to think too much about what was contained in the wall of small boxes. When she placed a hand on the golden coffin in which her mother rested, the noise quietened as though waiting for her to begin.

As with the coffin upstairs, her mother's gold casket was also topped with flowers. Dark red long-stem roses this time. Ri placed her hand on the smooth shiny surface of the coffin and closed her eyes.

"Mother," she sighed. "I am sorry things ended badly between us. I do not know all of the details but I cannot imagine it happening any other way since our relationship has always been nothing if not volatile. I do not share your dreams and ambitions for me. I never did. You should have listened to me and tried to find out who I really was. At the time I didn't realise that you weren't always right about the things you used to tell me about the world. Growing up I felt that I wasn't perfect enough, that I would never be the daughter you wanted. But I know enough now to see that you weren't the mother I wanted either. One thing I've learned from your example is that I want to be better for my son."

Ri smiled, imagining her mother's reaction to her words so far and the ones yet to come. For the first time she could talk to her without being interrupted and it swelled her courage for what she had to say.

"I suspect you would be horrified by my choice of partner in life, or as Em would say 'my partner in crime'. She is a wonderful girl and I love her so dearly that sometimes I think my heart might burst with it. Do you know who she is, Mother? She is a Royal princess, heir to the throne, though she does not represent the traditional image of one. She is strong and brave and true. I believe we will love each other forever. So you see, I ended up choosing better for myself than you did on my unwilling behalf. I know you thought you were doing what was best for me… but you were wrong about what that was."

"I forgive you. I think you were wronged much in life, Mother, and you made it your life's work to punish others for it. But you overlooked the happiness that was right in front of you: your husband and your daughter. We might have numbed your bitter pain if you had given us a chance to be a real family."

"But you picked revenge over hope. I won't be making the same mistake. I choose my new family, Emma and Henry. The Mills Family legacy... the darkness, the vengeance, and the violence, it all stops with him. My son."

Ri had barely finished her speech when she heard voices coming from above. It sounded like Em was shouting or arguing with someone outside, and it must have been loud if Ri could hear it all the way down in the bowels of the crypt. But who would be around at this time of night in the middle of the cemetery? Who in Storybrooke could antagonise Em enough to rile the teenager up into a verbal fight?

_"_ _... you're crazy, you vicious old Goose! As if I would do that. Why would I bother?"_

_"_ _I know it was you, young lady. You cannot fool me anymore. I know exactly who you are."_

_"_ _Good for you."_

_"_ _More importantly, I know who your little friend is and the monster she grows into being. That whole family is rotten to the core and has been infected with the disease of magic for generations. You are from a proper Royal family. You'd do best to remove yourself from making any connections with the name of Mills."_

_Em said smugly. "We got engaged tonight."_

_"_ _Then I must stop this from endangering the town even more than it already is."_

Ri raced up the stone steps leading to the upper room, taking two at a time. She called out. "Em! Are you ok? I'm coming."

The crypt door lay ajar and the voices carried through. What she heard struck fear into Ri's heart. It was Em pleading with her attacker. It sounded like there was a struggle in progress. Why didn't Em fight back? She was a scrappy girl who lived on the streets, she could hold her own against almost anyone. Ri had only been gone for ten minutes. Why, why, had she left her alone!

_"_ _For a teacher you're really dumb! It takes ages to knock someone out with that shit. Did you steal it from the chem lab? You could've taken five seconds to Google 'how to kidnap someone' before you came here."_

_"_ _No, don't! I'll come with you if I don't have to breathe it. Please, I'm pregnant. It might hurt the baby."_

_"_ _It's not another trick. Let go of me. Ri! RI, I NEED YOU!"_

"EM!" Ri screamed as she reached the door. She was close now. They were just outside. But as she moved through the door it was slammed shut in her face. The force of it knocked her backwards and she fell.

The back of her head struck the stone floor and dazed her instantly. She tried to stay awake, tried to get up but her efforts were futile. Ri fought the pull of unconsciousness gripping her in its claws as it dragged her under. She lost the fight and the dark void swallowed her whole.

* * *

_Neal's apartment, Manhattan, New York City_

Her fiance was asleep in bed next to her, snoring hoarsely. He lay on his stomach and had a heavy arm draped across her back. Tamara was awake and that's why she saw Neal's phone light up silently in the dark indicating that there was a new message coming through.

Without jostling Neal too much, she reached out and grabbed the phone off the nightstand and frowned at the name displayed on the screen:

_1 missed call_

_1 new message from Emma_

Tamara was unimpressed by the identity of the sender. She was not a fan of the pretty blonde with the boyish swagger, terrible dress sense, and a likable nature. Being dragged from her life to Storybrooke to meet Neal's ex-girlfriend and - Surprise! his biological son - had not been conducive to her wedding plans. When she'd started dating Neal she'd been relieved that like her he had no familial connections to interfere or make things complicated. Things were always complicated when there was an extraneous child involved. She hoped that they wouldn't have to see much more of that Henry.

She flicked her thumb across the screen and typed in Neal's passcode. The message from his ex said:

_Neal, I know why you left Storybrooke now. Did your Dad tell you something about Henry as a baby? I need to ask you an important question, even though it's gonna sound weird. Did anything happen between us recently?_

Tamara sneered to herself. Would they ever be free of these people? Was it too much to ask that she find someone unattached? Neal was supposed to be free of connections. He worked at Wall St as a stockbroker and made a lot more than his shabby apartment indicated. That'd be the first thing to go, she decided. Maybe they could move to Brooklyn after the wedding. Hopefully his father wouldn't want to be in attendance. There was something extremely odd about that man, and about everyone from Storybrooke in fact. Including Neal's ex.

The last thing she wanted was to know about anything that happened between her fiance and his ex "recently". No matter. She'd put a stop to it, whatever it was.

Tamara tapped an icon on the screen and was pleased with herself. She'd keep an eye out to intercept any further messages but was confident that Neal would be none the wiser. All of Emma's messages would be deleted before he even saw them.

* * *

_Main Street, Storybrooke_

Emma let herself become visible where she was standing on the sidewalk outside the Pawnbroker's shop. The darkening clouds above were barely discernible from the night sky and they hid the moonlight. A cruel wind had picked up and it whipped her hair into tangles. She squinted looking up and down Main street in the soft flickering glow of the streetlights. She could have sworn that the wind was gusting toward her from both sides… or was it coming from all sides?

Something seemed off about the activity in the normally quiet street too. A car alarm nearby was wailing and she thought she heard the sound of a minor prang accompanied by loud voices. She couldn't see the car accident so it must have been in one of the streets close by.

Emma wasn't the only one out in the street and the identity of the other person was no surprise at all.

She kept her expression neutral as Regina approached with her usual unhurried yet purposeful stride. Despite their fight they had both turned up in the same place for help with the crisis. The last thing they'd rationally discussed and agreed upon was needing Gold's counsel.

Emma had to raise her voice to be heard over the howling weather. "Fancy seeing you here, Your Majesty. Outside your former master's Evil Lair."

Regina gestured to the door to the shop and then brushed away the locks of hair that the wind blew into her face. "Shall we go in and ask Gold if he knows what the hell is going on? Or would you rather go for a stroll so that we can rehash history in this redundant fashion."

"Why did you go to my parents' place after we fought?"

Regina hid her surprise with impressive composure but didn't ask how Emma knew. She countered with a question of her own. "Why did you leave?"

"I didn't. I was with you the whole time."

"Oh, I see now. Using your invisible magic to stalk me then? A new entry for your ever-expanding rapsheet. Congratulations, Sheriff."

_Oh great, 'the Mayor' is back,_ thought Emma sarcastically. So this was how it was going to be. They were already back to snarking at each other and taking cheap shots. Before Emma could answer with a retort of her own, the phone in her back pocket sounded with the Snow White theme. There were 27 missed calls on the screen.

"Mary Margaret, I'm sorry about-" Emma started to say. She stopped as she listened to her mother's warnings. "Hold on. I'm going to put you on speakerphone. The weather's gone wild so let me know if you can hear ok."

The phone's tinny speakers had to compete with the noise of the wind. Mary Margaret's voice came over with a slight crackle. "Emma, where are you? We've been worried sick. Regina came here looking for you and -xxxxxchhhh- upset. Can you still hear me?"

Emma spoke up. "Yes. Regina's here with me. We're down the street, outside Gold's."

"Good. At least you're both in the same spot for once tonight. I've got the Council members here. If you two have a plan for what to do, now is the time to tell us."

"What's going on?"

"-xxxxxxchhhh xxxxch- reports of memory loss. Kathryn was not the only one."

Emma frowned. "Say again?"

"People are losing their memories. They have been turning up at the hospital with amnesia, more in the last few days. Obviously the patients themselves don't think anything is wrong but their relatives and friends are telling the doctors that they've forgotten their fairytale identities. We can't keep this a secret any longer, it's gone public. People are panicking."

At the time of her first Council meeting where they'd discussed the threat to the town a small frisson of dread had settled uneasily in Emma's stomach and had grown steadily each day since, gnawing at her conscience. It felt like it weighed a ton now as she listened to her mother's report.

This was it. What they'd been fearing over the last two months or so had finally happened. It had not seemed real until now.

"The border is here?" Emma surmised.

"Yes, it's closing in on the town," said her mother. "We're keeping an eye on the map Regina made. Not only is the border moving again, it's currently moving faster than it was before."

"Is it accelerating as it gets closer to the middle of town?" asked Regina.

"Maybe," said Mary Margaret over the phone. "Why do you say that?"

Regina explained. "Henry's physics assignment on space-time also mentioned 'black holes'. A black hole is a region in space with gravity so strong that nothing inside can escape, not even light. The closer you get to one the faster you must accelerate to avoid being sucked in. Time itself deforms."

"So however much time we think we have left we may actually have less than that?"

"It gets worse," Regina said in a grim voice. "There is a point of no return, a boundary beyond which a reversal is impossible. Henry says it's called the Event Horizon. Once the border shrinks to a certain size there will be no stopping it."

"How does Henry even know all that stuff?" said Emma. "About physics and black holes and time travelling. He's eleven."

"Santa brought him Stephen Hawking's book  _'A Brief History of Time'_  for Christmas last year."

Emma groaned. "Reginaaa! I can't decide which of you is worse. Henry, for still believing in Santa, or you, for buying him a textbook for Christmas. Couldn't you just get him a remote control car like a normal kid."

"He asked for the book!" said Regina, defending herself. "It's what he wanted. He got a chemistry set and some other toys as well."

"Yeah, too many, judging by his overflowing room. You spoil him."

"With books and toys?! How am I spoiling him by giving him a good education. It's what's best for him. At least I don't encourage his misbehaviour and bad language like you do. Unfortunately, he has also inherited your propensity for running away. He idolises you and hangs on to every word you say. Don't you dare tell him about Santa before he's ready, Emma."

"WHAT?!" Emma laughed. "That makes no sense at all! You're the one who didn't want him believing in stuff that's not real. Like fairytales! You said he needed a dose of reality."

"Have you forgotten?" Regina raised an eyebrow. "The fairytale stories actually happened. We're real people."

Emma scoffed. " _I_  am real. I'm not so sure about the rest of you."

"You're really annoying is what you are."

"GIRLS!" shouted Mary Margaret over the phone, reminding them that it was supposed to be a threeway conversation. "This is not the time for sniping at each other. We need to do something about the border. Now. But we don't even know why this is happening. What should we do?"

"We'll get back to you," said Regina. She snatched the phone out of Emma's hand and pressed End Call to cut the conversation short. She didn't hand the phone back though. Instead she was scrolling through it and searching for something.

"What are you looking for, Regina?" said Emma, huffily crossing her arms. "I haven't been sexting anyone but you and this is hardly the time for a paranoid fit of jealousy. I told you Ruby sent that message to me by mistake."

"You didn't call her?"

"Who?"

"Em."

"No. I didn't. I was never going to call her and upset both of the girls. But not because you  _forbade_  me to. For the record, you don't get to do that. You don't get to forbid me to do anything."

"You messaged Neal instead," Regina said, making it sound more like a question. "But he never replied."

"So?"

"I suppose the mystery remains. Perhaps we will never know the truth about Henry's conception."

Emma gave her a look of disbelief. "For god's sake, that's not important right now! The town is gonna disappear under our feet."

"Apparently it's important enough for you to walk out on me."

"Regina, I-"

They both startled around in the direction of glass breaking. One of the shop windows half the street away disintegrated into a shower of glittering shards. A few boys in dark clothes were laughing. They grabbed a few things from the shop and ran off in the space of two minutes. It could be one minute to midnight before the apocalypse and there would still be looters.

A sudden gust of wind nearly knocked Regina off her feet it was so strong. Emma lurched towards her by instinct to catch her in open arms before she could fall. As soon as their bodies met the other woman extricated herself and shook all further assistance away. Regina said nothing and wouldn't look at her. It was worrying for several reasons.

When Emma had been tempted to walk out earlier that night it was only to take a break and to calm her temper. She never intended to  _leave_  leave. Maybe Regina didn't know that though. She was obviously still hurt by it. Did Regina think that she wouldn't protect her because they were in the middle of a fight? No matter what happened between them, they were family now and Emma had vowed to always be there for her son's mother. Whether Regina liked it or not.

Emma reached out to Regina's cheekbone and pressed her thumb below a small bleeding cut. "You're hurt."

Regina swiped at it herself, smearing the blood. She checked her fingers. "It's nothing."

"But the wind. It brought the glass-"

"I said it's nothing."

"Where are Em and Ri?" said Emma, changing the topic. "Surely they're not still out somewhere at this hour, in this weather?"

Regina shook her head. "They're not at home. Or your mother's, I was just there."

"So was I. Why do I get the feeling that whatever is going on has something to do with the teenagers? All of the trouble started when they got here. But I don't understand what they have to do with the border shrinking. Now they're missing and everything is out of control."

A bell jingled when the shop door opened suddenly right next to them and Gold popped his head out. He was wearing the sheep-crap smelling scarf of Baelfire's around his neck. Emma recognised it as the one that prevented his memories from being erased when they'd left Storybrooke to go find Neal in New York. Apparently the pawnshop broker was nonplussed by the strange storm that was brewing outside. He faced them with mild indifference, as though nothing weird was going on.

"Can I help you with your disappearing town problem?" Gold offered, sounding like a polite storekeeper trying to sell them some of his wares.

"How do you know about that?" said Emma, shocked at first then she rolled her eyes. "Wait, what am I talking about. This is a disaster so of course you have something to do with it. You lied. You were behind this the whole time."

"Oh, I had nothing to do with this. In fact, if you had done your job thoroughly, Miss Swan, we'd never be facing this problem at all."

"Her job?" Regina repeated.

"As the Saviour she was supposed to bring back the happy endings. There has been a partial improvement at best. Now that the town is shrinking and people are losing their memories things have taken a serious downturn wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah," Emma agreed. "Everything's going back to the way it was. They're losing their memories, except the ones from when they were miserable and living a lie. The Saviour was supposed to prevent all that by breaking the curse."

"Why is this happening, Gold," demanded Regina. "Why is my town going to hell?"

Gold smiled a wolfish grin and laid down his hand of cards with a verbal flourish. "It's simple, dearies! The problems with the memories, the magic, and the border… they are all caused by one and the same. The curse was never really broken. Now it's coming back with a vengeance and we all must weather the storm."


	55. Revenge

 

"Why don't you both come in out of that nasty weather?"

Gold barely finished the words before Emma pushed her way past him into the shop, followed by Regina. He shut the door behind them, causing the bell above to ring and the noise from outside was hushed. He flipped the sign in the window over to display 'CLOSED' as though he could turn away the storm like an angry customer.

"What do you mean my curse wasn't broken?!" Regina demanded.

"I thought I broke the curse," said Emma, confused. "When I kissed Henry at the hospital there was a pulse of light. People got their fairytale memories back. The Blue Fairy said it was True Love's kiss."

"She was wrong, as she often is. Do you have a romantic interest in your son, Miss Swan?" asked Gold.

Before any of them saw it Emma's fist made contact with the pawnshop owner's face. The smack made a sickening crunch and caused Gold's head to snap back. Emma glared at him in disgust, not at all sorry for what she'd done. He had needled them for long enough and she finally snapped. He had it coming.

Regina was furious at the implication as well. "Of course she doesn't you despicable imp! What the hell are you talking about?"

"Bastard!" Emma spat. She nursed her hand and breathed out heavily. "You know you deserved that."

Gold held a hand to his jaw and it began to glow as it healed magically. Emma sure was a quickdraw now that she could consciously access her magic. He hadn't been able to avoid it even with all his power.

"Explain your reason for asking such a thing," Regina demanded.

"Very well." Gold's tooth glinted like his namesake. "The curse wasn't really broken because Henry is not Emma's True Love, he's her son. Familial love, though powerful enough in its own right, is not as powerful as True Love. It was Emma's own magic that saved Henry and restored people's memories. But it wasn't enough to break the curse properly. She needs help for that formidable task."

"I didn't know what I was doing," said Emma defensively. "I didn't know I was 'breaking' the curse the first time. Now I have to do it again? The magic border maintaining the town and people's real identities is shrinking. Is that why this is happening?"

"Yes, it is the curse. It wasn't really broken like everyone assumed, it was merely damaged. Regina's magic is now out on its own in the world and, like her, it wants revenge for its injuries. The curse is coming and it is out for blood."

"Revenge? You're making it sound like a person. Like it can think."

"Magic from a powerful enough creator has a certain sort of sentience," said Gold. "So yes, in a way it can think. Apparently this magic thinks like Regina does, it's self-destructive and vengeful."

Emma remembered back to the first time when she'd heard that magic could think. That was what they were saying at the Council meeting:  _'Beware of magic, in case it turns and head straight for you._ ' She remembered Regina out in the woods with a bloody nose insisting that she refrain from attacking the border with magic, then only five minutes ago Regina's cheek had been cut when the wind picked up a single shard of glass from two blocks away to strike her with.

"When Regina and I went close to the border it picked her up into the air and threw her back. It's not trying to protect her from leaving is it. It's coming after her."

"Yes." Gold nodded. "It's coming for its creator and it will destroy everything in its wake. Including the life she created."

"We have to stop it. What do we do about it?"

Despite the threat to her own life, Regina was calm. "There's no benefit to you if the town and its magic is destroyed, Gold. You know how to get things done. You always know everything. Tell us how to fix this."

"I'll make you a deal," said Gold, with his usual hint of mischief as he adjusted the stinky scarf around his neck. "If you help to restore Belle's memories I will help you with your magic problems."

Seeing that Emma was about to blindly accept his deal, Regina jumped in first. "DON'T say anything. Never trust him. Gold, we're not agreeing to anything until you explain what we have to do."

"You need to make a True Love potion. Similar to what was bottled up inside the egg which was inside the dragon last year."

"The one that you stole from me!" accused Emma. She shuddered at the memory of fighting the dragon only to lose the precious egg minutes later. "After I fished it out of  _her_."

"Yes. The one that I used to bring magic to Storybrooke by dropping it in the well in the woods. The potion was made from a selection of rare ingredients, including a hair from the head of each of your parents, Snow White and Prince Charming."

"Like a polyjuice potion?" Emma was too worried to be amused by the connection to one of her and Henry's favourite books. "So we make another potion from their hair. We're safely supplied with potions until Mary Margaret and David go bald?"

"It can't be done. A True Love potion can only be made  _once_  from any given True Love pairing. Otherwise we'd be making them all the time to solve our problems."

"What about you and your Stockholm victim, Belle?" said Regina.

"Currently she's not Belle. We need to find someone else." Gold's hand darted out and plucked a long curly blonde hair from Emma's head. "This is a good start."

Emma yelped. "Ouch! What the hell? Do you want another punch in the face?"

"Not particularly, Miss Swan. You will need this to make your True Love potion."

"But who is her True Love? Is it Neal?" said Regina. She was clearly not very happy about that possibility, though she would have refused to label the emotion as jealousy.

Emma rubbed her scalp with a sullen grimace. "Tell me it's not Neal, cos I am so not going there again. What is True Love anyway?"

"It's magic," said Gold by rote. "The most powerful magic of all in fact."

"No, I mean, how is it different from regular old ordinary love? How do you know if someone is your True Love?"

"You just know. The hearts will seek and find each other and once they do, they find it difficult to let each other go. True Love is not platonic. It must be a romantic sexual love. Not every coupling or marriage involves it and not every person has a True Love out there somewhere, in fact, it's quite rare. True Love simply means a love that survives the random events that occur in our rather unpredictable realms. The couple is destined to meet, every other variable in time or history can vary but not that. They usually fall in love and no matter what befalls them or stands in their way, no matter how they seek to avoid each other or how they are separated in time or space, the fates will keep throwing them in each other's paths, rewriting the timeline to ensure they meet up time and time again. You see now why the Evil Queen's plots to separate your parents would never have worked."

"Who is my True Love then?" said Emma blankly. "If I even have one. How do I know?"

"By now I should think you know  _exactly_  who it is, Miss Swan. She knows."

Emma shook her head once, ignoring his pointed stare. "It can't be. Her True Love was Daniel. Losing him devastated her. She loved him first."

"Really, dearie?... Did not the two of you meet as teenage girls and fall in love at first sight? There's never been a fairytale quite like yours before. No-one from the Enchanted Forest has ever even heard of this happening, let alone a True Love pairing between two women. It seems the fates have a sense of humour. They worked through mortals to bring us all here to make it possible and to throw you two together. It seems you missed your chance the first time around. Think of it as an intervention. They must want you together very badly. Or think you need a lot of help to stop your bickering long enough for you to fall in love. The rest, however, is entirely up to you."

Gold produced a shorter strand of dark brown hair out of nowhere. He twisted the light and dark strands and they held together as though they were meant to stay entwined. The long curly blonde one was coiled protectively around the shorter brunette strand. He held the twisted pair out for Emma to take.

"Who's hair is the other one?" asked Emma.

Regina narrowed her eyes at what she assumed was a strand of her own hair and then looked at Gold with accusing eyes. "It's mine. You took that from me. When you were in my office, asking me all those questions about my relationship with Emma and why I never let her leave Storybrooke last year. You took a hair from my blazer."

"I did, yes," said Gold.

Emma raised the strands up to the light and examined them. "So. If Regina and I are True Loves and we make a True Love Potion with this… then what do we do with it?"

"The well?" Regina answered first and Gold nodded his confirmation. "The waters of Lake Nostos restore what has once been lost."

"Ok, so we drop it in the well," said Emma. "Will it bring back the lost memories permanently and break Regina's curse for real?"

"Yes," said Gold. "If that's what you will it to do. But there is a catch."

"What now?"

"This True Love potion must involve the product of it's magic. Emma, you had to touch the potion made from your parents love before I could use it. That's why I needed you to retrieve it for me. And another thing-"

"There's MORE?" cried Emma.

"We must be certain that the two of you are indeed a True Love match otherwise the results could be undesirable. If you are not each other's True Loves this potion will kill whatever love there is between you. Think carefully before you decide to risk it. To be certain, you must have shared a kiss to activate the potion before it expires on the third day ... and not just any kiss, the kiss of True Love."

"Fine," said Emma confidently. "That's the easy part of the plan. Kissing is something we know how to do. But what or who is the product of our magic?"

"Henry. Who else."

Emma rolled her eyes in disbelief, remembering the fight with Regina about their son's origins. "You think he's our magic baby too? It's not biologically possible. I get that you guys are fairytale characters from a place where weird shit happens all the time, but I'm a real person and I know that it doesn't work that way in the real world. It's impossible."

"But that is entirely the point of magic. To make the impossible happen.  _Every_  act of magic violates the laws of the natural world here. Fairies violate gravity when they fly. Conjuring an object out of nowhere violates thermodynamics. You yourself have exploited magic, Emma. You know things you couldn't possibly know, such as when someone is lying or their location. I believe you can even make yourself unseeable. You've been bending and altering the science of this world your whole life."

Regina took a glance at Emma, trying to determine if Gold's arguments held any weight. It appeared that she wasn't entirely convinced but she didn't argue further. Her long-held skepticism was tough to crack. Regina wasn't going to renew their fight either by repeating her arguments from earlier since it likely wouldn't do any more good. What she suspected about Henry didn't change anything for her, but Emma was resistant to the very idea of it. Maybe Emma was afraid because she didn't want her son to be involved in anything magical. She hoped that it wasn't because Emma hated the idea of having to share him with Regina in the one way that her motherhood of Henry was more 'legitimate'. Something about it was definitely pushing Emma's escape button though.

"I have proof," offered Gold.

"What proof?" said Regina.

"Your mother's globe. It shows blood relations."

Gold went on to tell them how he used the globe to locate his son Neal in New York. "Would you care for a demonstration?"

"I've seen it before," Regina cut him off. "No, I don't need proof. I've never cared about Henry's parentage in terms of genetics. It changes nothing for me. He is my son regardless of how he was created. I'm only interested in his future. Tell us what we need to know about the potion. What does Henry have to do with it?"

"Your son is the one to brew this potion and he will need whatever magic he can muster to do so. "

Emma and Regina shared a look of alarm as they realised something they'd tried to ignore for too long. The hints had been there all along. Henry knew more than he'd let on. Whenever Emma asked him anything he was always careful to answer in such a way that she couldn't tell whether he was lying or not. He knew about the time travel stuff, he got in trouble at school for using magic against another boy, he was implicated in this too. Every time Emma tried to voice her suspicions Regina made it clear that the possibility was not up for discussion. As much as she'd willed herself to ignore the hints she couldn't help suspecting the truth.

"Henry has magic," Regina said, finally confirming the reason she'd felt an uneasy dread about him for a while. "He's been involved in this the whole time."

Gold smiled. "Yes, he is a very promising student. Why should he not be given that both his mothers are powerfully magical? He draws the magic of three from both sides of his family, light and dark."

"Magic of three," Emma echoed. "What does that mean?"

"On one side he is the third in a line of powerful dark sorcerers: Cora, Regina, Henry. On the other side he is the third in a line of children from successive True Love pairings: the first is Snow White because King Leopold and his first wife Queen Eva were True Loves, the second is Emma Swan, as the child of Snow White and Prince Charming, and then there is Henry. The child of yourself and-… well, I think you get the idea. Three is a powerful magical quantity."

"So he's special?"

"More than you know. The odds of descending from a family tree like his are rather long. Such a child will never be seen again most likely."

"And that's why he has magic?" said Emma.

"Yes, because he is three times descended from both dark sorcery and the magic of True Love, which is also known as light magic. That's a lot of power for one little boy."

"But it took me years to learn magic," said Regina. "Longer than Henry has even been alive. How can he wield such power already?"

"He's been coming to my shop for lessons. I taught him a few things but I believe he's been experimenting by himself. Henry cast a curse and it brought your younger selves here."

"A CURSE?" the two women said in perfect unison. It seemed the shocks today weren't yet finished with them.

"Henry  _cursed_  us?" said Emma. "But we're his parents!"

Regina gritted her teeth. "He's grounded."

"Hell yeah. Forever."

Neither of Henry's mothers wanted him to have magic: Emma, because she had grown up with raw uncontrolled powers that she had struggled with and hadn't understood and Regina, because she was deathly afraid of her son following in her footsteps and the dark road she'd gone down. Emma's power was innate and Regina's was learned but neither of them could escape it anymore. It was part of each of them and had been for a long time.

Now that it was confirmed, it seemed like they'd known it all along.

Regina pinned a deathly glare on Gold and stepped up in his face. "This is your doing. You've been teaching him how to use dark magic. It's dangerous. You've corrupted him like you did me! He's a good boy, he's not like you and I. Now his heart has been darkened and for what reason?"

"As the product of True Love," Gold explained. "Like Emma and Mary Margaret as well, Henry's heart is protected from any darkness spreading through it. It is too pure to be completely corrupted by dark magic because the light side always fights back. Henry is especially powerful because he can perform magic at no cost to himself or others."

"But he cast a dark curse didn't he? There must be a price for that."

Gold made a 'so-so' gesture with his palm. "It's more of a light-grey curse. Not all curses are as terrible as the Evil Queen's and require such a heavy sacrifice. In this case, the Curse of Reflection brought your younger selves out into the open. Like the dream where you walk into a highschool exam wearing nothing but your good looks, if you have them. Like the world's worst yearbook picture brought to life, wandering around to remind you of your past regrets and mistakes. It gives one a mirror to hold up to one's self and most people do not like what they see."

"But it hasn't been that bad." Emma twisted her mouth, unconvinced. "It's nothing compared to torture and murder. Having the girls here has been more like constant mischief than evil. Why is this reflecting spell called 'dark'?"

"Because it imposes a situation on another without their consent. Some people who look into the mirror of their past are driven mad by lost opportunities and regret. Others fight with themselves for dominance and so they both lose. Still others ignore what their reflection has to teach them and never heal. This curse is not to be treated lightly. No curse is."

"Where did Henry get this Curse of Reflection?" Regina demanded, highly suspicious of her former teacher. "Did you make it for him like you did mine? You know as well as I do that curses have to be cast from originals, not copies."

"You seem upset, dear. I would have thought you'd be more pleased, given your affinity with mirrors, especially magic ones. Your son is progressing very well as an apprentice of sorcery. He is extraordinarily talented. More than you were at twice his age, for instance."

"Where," Regina repeated her question firmly. "Did Henry get the curse."

"From your mother's book. I may have hinted something about it. He was the one responsible for bringing your teenage doubles to Storybrooke to show you your reflections."

"But why would Henry even want that?" asked Emma.

"I see the future. I told him that I saw the two of you becoming romantically involved. He was rather taken with the idea of the two of you not fighting anymore and having a family together. He wanted you to have some time to get to know each other and fall in love. To do that you had to understand and come to terms with each other's pasts. This is what I meant by the fates altering the timeline, they did it through Henry."

"The girls," said Regina. "They're not here from the past? It was never about time travel, it was only a curse. Nothing we told them was ever going to affect the future."

"They are pure magic, your mirror images. They are figments of the past, so in fact they aren't even really here."

Emma regarded him suspiciously, noticing that he was hiding something. "No. I don't think you're telling us the whole truth, Gold. They are real. They're physically here. We can touch them and talk to them. Other people can too. They're in photos. Their presence here has changed us, it has already affected our future. I don't believe they're not really our younger selves. I think the time travel is real."

Regina let her fingers brush against Emma's to get her attention. She could tell she had it even though Emma didn't look back at her. She spoke softly, "If they are really us and they go back to the past then everything that's happened to them since they came to Storybrooke has  _always_  been part of our pasts. We were them, we just don't remember it that way for some reason."

"Which means…" Emma stared forward, but she was acutely aware of the touch. She let her thumb graze Regina's index finger in return and spoke as though it were only to her.

"...It means that when I was Em's age I was already pregnant with Henry and didn't know it. He always has been our son in every way, in the future and the past. But you and I don't have those memories. When we went back to where we came from we didn't remember, but our hearts were so full of love for each other that we each glommed onto the first people we met in the past - Daniel and Neal - to cope with the loss. Our memories are wrong. You cast the curse because you were heartbroken over me, and I gave up the baby because I was alone and depressed over losing you. Our hearts remembered."

Gold seemed impressed that she had figured it out. He cast a shrewd glance at Emma.

Regina smiled sadly towards the end of Emma's explanation and then she turned back to Gold. "How did Henry manage to do this?"

"It's lucky that he did," said Gold. "Otherwise we all would've had some problems. He asked her but the Blue Fairy refused to grant him a wish. Just like she refused all of yours, Regina, on the basis that you are of the dishonoured Mills family. Henry wasn't eligible until Astrid volunteered to be fairy godmother to the newest Royal family, the Swan-Millses. After he cast the curse, he used his wish to ensure that the two of you would bring him into existence. If he hadn't then he would never have been born in the first place. It took a curse and a wish to bring Henry into the world, a combination of light and dark magic. Just like the two of you."

Emma side-eyed him. "Henry cast a curse and made a wish that resulted in his own birth? How can that be? Doesn't that contradict itself? It's one of those things-"

"A paradox," said Regina.

"No, it's not a temporal paradox," said Gold. "He was already here in existence as an eleven-year-old, so therefore he must've been born in the first place. He knew he had to do it because he had already done it. Time is not linear but it is self-consistent. The future, the past, and the present are all one and the same."

Emma groaned, "Oh my god. You're hurting my head."

"If your boy had never been born then Storybrooke, its residents, and its Mayor would've been doomed to their unhappy fates for all eternity. Luckily for all of us Henry was indeed born and he grew up and found the Saviour who will soon be instrumental in finally breaking the Queen's curse. And now here we are."

"If you can see the future, Gold," said Emma, giving the wily imp a winning smile. "Tell us what's going to happen. Do we succeed? How does this end?"

Gold chuckled like she was a child that said something endearingly funny. "Oho, dearie, it doesn't work like that. Not everything about the future has been determined. I can only see a few things that are immutable, everything else is obscured. Some events  _must_  happen, but the rest is wiggle room. My power of foresight is not like reading a day-old newspaper. What I see is open to interpretation. It wouldn't do you any good to know what I know. Trust me on that. The ending of this story is up to you."

Regina glared at him. "You planned this whole thing didn't you. You wanted all this to happen."

"If I did the first part of the plan would have been not telling you about it."

"So let me get this straight," said Emma, taking a deep breath to summarise everything. "You taught Henry magic and told him that you saw his mothers together in the future, encouraged him to play matchmaker, and then threatened him with being ret-conned out of existence if we didn't get together. You gave him the idea so that he'd find the curse in Cora's book and bring the teenagers to Storybrooke so that they'd fall in love with each other instead of with Daniel and Neal, contradicting our memories which we now know to be incorrect. That meant that Em and Ri would learn from each other the love and strength that they needed in order to go back to the past to do what needed to be done to save everyone in the future.

"Otherwise Regina wouldn't have cast the curse, Henry would never have been born, Storybrooke wouldn't exist, and Regina and I would never have met. All of which would contradict the need for us to come here as teenagers in the first place, thus creating a paradox. But the girls  _did_  come here and everything happened the way it happened. It helped Regina and I to understand and accept each other long enough to fall in love and become a new True Love pairing… so that we can make the rare True Love potion which can only be made once for each couple … so that we can use it to finally break the curse for real and bring back everyone's memories permanently."

Emma blinked. "That is the most convoluted plan I've ever heard. Why'd you do this?"

"I did what I had to." Gold seemed sincere for once. "For Belle. I want her to remember who she is, who I am. Do you think there's an easy solution to all magical problems just because you want there to be? Do you think you can just sit back and wait until the Blue Fairy comes up with something out of thin air? Powerful problems require powerful fixes. We're talking about defeating the curse to end all curses. True Love is needed for this."

"You are the absolute grandmaster of Insanely Convoluted Plans, you know that right?"

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now, do we have a deal?"

Regina was still suspicious of the deal and repeated its terms. "What you're saying is we have to make this potion to save Storybrooke. To do that Emma and I have to determine whether we are each other's True Love. But if we are wrong and we try to make this potion then we will fall out of love, the town will be destroyed, and-"

"Henry will be killed in the process of it," said Gold. "He is the literal manifestation of your love, he is the love you created. Without him it could end badly for us all. Good luck."

The stakes were never so high as they were now and both women knew it. Their son, their family, their town... everything important was at risk.

Emma's eyes unfocused for a minute as she thought it all over. "Now we know why the girls are in Storybrooke and how they got here but that still doesn't answer the main question. The curse isn't broken but what made the border start to shrink in the first place?"

Gold's answer was accompanied by a shrug. "That I do not know."

"I know someone who does." Regina's eyes darkened. She turned on her heel and fled the shop.

Emma ran after her and paused in the doorway, standing between the calm inside and the storm outside. She looked back towards the counter where the pawnshop owner was standing. He was calm and apparently unrattled by the threat to the Storybrooke's very existence. He was content to let them handle everything without interference? He had given up answers and explanations easily and seemingly without a price so far…

What was he up to? Was he telling the truth? Was he really on their side, helping them?

"Gold," said Emma, from under a fierce brow. "If you try to swindle us, or if what you just told us turns out not to be true, or if anything happens to my family... I won't stop at one punch next time and after I'm done I'll let Regina go at you. Clear?"

"As crystal," said Mr Gold.

His blase reply did not give her confidence in his sincerity but she was too short of time right now. Emma left the shop letting the door slam and the bell rang with a clatter when the wind rushed in. Out in the street she accessed her magical sense to feel for Regina's location and rushed to catch up to her, all the time wondering where the hell they were headed next.

 


	56. The sorcerer's apprentice

Regina flew into the house at 108 Mifflin St with her heels clicking rapidly on the floor. She stood at the base of the stairs with her hands on her hips and called out in a stern voice. "HENRY JAMES MILLS! Get your little tush down here right this minute!"

Emma ran in after finally catching up. "Regina, maybe you should-"

"Don't tell me to calm down," Regina snapped. "I'll handle this. He'll probably laugh if you try to discipline him. I have ten years of revoking his TV privileges under my belt. I know every trick in his book."

Mary Margaret and David appeared to find out what all the noise was about. Earlier, Mrs Meadows had dropped Henry off after collecting the kids from the movie theatre and as there was no-one home she called his grandparents over. By now Henry was upstairs asleep in his bedroom (or so they thought). The Charmings assessed the scene, wondering what had happened between the two women tonight. If it wasn't one of them yelling it was the other. It seemed like Regina was furious about something and was gearing up to give her son the parental lecture from hell. Emma was standing around not doing a thing to intervene this time.

"HENRY!" Regina yelled. "I'm going to count to three and if you're not down here by then I'm donating your xbox to charity.  _ONE!_ "

"What's going on?" said Mary Margaret, confused.

Emma shrugged and held up her hands in surrender. "Hey, don't look at me. I'm not getting involved or she might punish me as well. This is between them apparently."

_"_ _TWO!"_

"Is something wrong? Why is Henry in trouble?" asked David.

"We found out that he's been messing around with dark magic," said Emma.

"Oh my goodness, is that all?" Mary Margaret sighed in relief. "I thought you were going to say drugs."

" _THREE!_ "

A small tornado of purple smoke appeared in the foyer and when it cleared an eleven-year-old boy was standing there in his pyjamas. Henry's face was subdued and wary, obviously he knew that he was in Big Trouble with his Mom. The adults stared at him in shock at the sight of him appearing magically out of nowhere in the same manner that Mr Gold, Cora, and Regina herself often used.

Emma gaped. "Kid! How did you do that? Since when can you apparate?"

"It's not that hard," said Henry.

Regina bent over to her son's level. "I am not impressed, young man. Mr Gold told us everything. What do you have to say for yourself, hm?"

"Um, sorry?" Henry tried on his cute lopsided smile but it would have no effect on a parent who was well-used to that tactic. He gulped when he saw that it wasn't working.

"What have I told you about Mr Gold! Don't  _ever_  trust him. How could you let him teach you magic? You know how dangerous he is. You've read in your storybook about how that imp Rumpelstiltzskin corrupted me and the price I paid for those lessons. He told us you used dark magic to cast a curse!"

"Hey, you did that too!" Henry frowned at her for the hypocrisy. Regina stood up to her full height, but the time in which she towered over him had passed and he wasn't intimidated. "You used magic all the time, Mom. But you still didn't get your happy ending. Our life sucked while the curse was here. We were both lonely."

"And you think magic is the answer to that? Anything worth having can be gotten without magic."

"Not always!"

"Why would you do this, Henry?"

"Because," Henry argued. "The curse was bad but everything that happened since it broke  _sucked worse._  We lost Emma and Mary Margaret down a portal, then Cora came and turned you evil again. Nobody trusted you anymore and Mary Margaret made it so that you'd kill your mother. You and Emma were barely talking. I hated it. My whole family was falling apart! They're supposed to be heroes but they would've killed you to stop you from killing them first. You're my Mom. You can't die. Things were supposed to get better when the curse broke, not worse. None of it even made sense. You guys were ruining everything by fighting the whole time. I love all of you, you're my family, and I don't want to lose  _anyone_!"

The adults shared uncomfortable glances at Henry's diatribe, hearing their shameful actions through the eyes of a child. They'd tried to protect him from it but it'd affected him far more than they'd realised. Regina didn't interrupt either.

Henry went on, pleading his case to all of both his parents and grandparents now. "I wanted to get rid of magic but that didn't work. Everyone else was using magic to get stuff they wanted - Mom, Emma, Mr Gold, Mary Margaret, David - all of you used magic and it wasn't always for good things. So I did it too. But I did something good with it."

"Henry, you can't know that for sure," said Regina, still in lecture mode. "Once you've unleashed magic it does what it wants to. When you cast a dark spell you can never be certain what effect it might have. Villains- people like me- we don't care, but you should. I raised you to be good. I raised you to be better than me."

"We're the same, Mom. When I nearly got expelled for using magic at school the kids started calling me the Half-blood Prince, because you're the Queen. They say I'm just like you."

His words left Regina visibly stricken. She went over to sit on the last step of the stairs and covered her eyes with her hands.

Henry watched her go sadly and then looked down at the floor near his feet. Parental disapproval always hurt more than being yelled at for some reason. He thought that if anyone would understand why he'd cast a dark curse it'd be his Mom. Maybe she wouldn't be able to forgive him this time. He'd given her a lot of trouble over the past year or so, he'd tried to push her away and hurt them both in the process. Maybe this would be the last straw and she wouldn't want him anymore.

"Mom?"

Emma took her turn then, bending to Henry's level to try to catch his eyes. She ruffled his hair. "Kid, it's ok. The reason your Mom is so angry is because she's afraid for you. The town is in danger and we need your help to save it. Do you think you're up for that?"

"You're going to let me help?" Henry nodded eagerly. "Yeah! What do we have to do?"

"The curse wasn't really broken..." Emma explained everything that Mr Gold had told them about the curse returning, not only for Henry's benefit but to inform her parents as well. Because Henry was listening she deliberately omitted a few of the more scary details (like Regina being the target and the fact that Henry could cease to exist if they screwed up the making of the True Love potion). She also explained Henry's role in bringing the teenagers to Storybrooke for her parents' benefit.

"So that's how Em and Ri got here," said Mary Margaret. The puzzle pieces were finally falling into place. "You brought them here, Henry?"

"Yes," said Henry. "The Blue Fairy wouldn't give me my wish so I found another way to make it come true. She was kinda mean about it actually. I can't figure out whose side she's really on."

"But why did you need the girls to come here?" asked David.

"Mr Gold said he knew something about me in the future. He said that if my parents didn't get together the curse would never be broken and I wouldn't exist. It's just like in Back to the Future. Marty McFly helps his parents get together in the past to stop himself from disappearing in the future. I cast the Reflection spell from Cora's book to bring my Moms' younger selves here to help them get together. But it wasn't enough to ensure that I was born because they're both girls. So I used my wish. Astrid helped me. I got some fairy dust from her and cast it over Em and Ri while they were sleeping. I don't know if it worked though."

Emma cleared her throat. "It did. Em's pregnant."

"WHAT?!" shrieked Mary Margaret. Her fingertips flew to her lips. "She's - Oh my goodness. She's so young. My baby girl."

"How did this happen?" said David, in similar shock to his wife.

"The wish," sighed Emma. "Apparently it translated into Em and Ri making a baby together somehow by magic. Gold has this enchanted globe thing that can show your blood relatives. He realised Henry wasn't his grandson because his blood only shows Neal in New York. Neal isn't Henry's father, not really. I'm still not sure I've completely wrapped my head around it. It's crazy but … Ri is involved somehow. Who knows what effect magic has on genetics. Maybe he has always has been hers, we just didn't know it."

Henry smiled and raised his eyebrows. "So it did work! I mean, of course it did. I knew that. I must've been born because I'm already here."

"Trust me, kid," said Emma. "You were definitely born. I was there. I remember you and your big head. When did you make the wish, Henry?"

"It was the night that you guys went to the Council meeting."

Emma side-eyed her parents. "That was the first night that Regina and I had a 'sleepover'."

"She got you pregnant when you were teenagers here?" growled David. "I think I need a sword. Or a shotgun. Perhaps both. Maybe even a shotgun with swords for ammo."

Mary Margaret was open-mouthed, searching for words. "I - I have no idea what to say. When my daughter was born if someone had said to me: 'Guess who she's going to fall head-over-heels for and have a baby with when she grows up?' I absolutely would not have guessed: 'my arch enemy, the Evil Queen Regina'."

Emma mumbled. "She didn't seem evil that night when she was naked in my arms and moaning my name."

"Emma Evelyn Swan!" hissed Mary Margaret. "Your eleven-year-old child is standing right there."

"What are you talking about?" said Henry suspiciously.

"Nothing," said Mary Margaret. "Right, Emma?"

"Um, yeah, whatever you say. Er, my middle name is Evelyn? Since when."

Henry patted Emma on the shoulder indulgently. "That's how moms make sure you know you're in trouble. When they use all your names like that."

"Does Em know she's pregnant?" asked David.

Emma shot a glance at Regina before answering, since the question ran perilously close to the topic of the fight that'd ripped them apart. "We don't know. She's only a few weeks along. You can't count on Em to realise what the physical symptoms mean. She's had crap-all education and that includes sex-ed, even though she thinks she knows everything. I didn't figure it out until after I was in jail and when I did I realised that I'd been feeling yuck for a while without knowing what it all meant."

"How many weeks were you when you found out, Emma?" said Mary Margaret. "Won't that tell us when the girls are going to go back to the past?"

Emma shrugged. "I didn't know back then. By the time I got to see a proper doctor I couldn't remember the relevant dates so they estimated the due date based on the baby's size at the ultrasound. But nobody cared all that much about a pregnant teenager from the streets who'd ended up in jail, especially one who didn't know exactly how she got into that state. I was all alone."

Mary Margaret's face crumpled and before Emma knew it she was encircled in a tight hug by both her parents at once. David's hand cradled her head as usual, he always did that for some reason. It was as though he thought she was still a newborn without the neck strength to hold her own head up. By all rights, her parents ought to have been more worried about the town and people's memories and the prospect of forgetting each other. Instead they were comforting their daughter, putting her first for this one moment.

The last time Emma saw them she had been yelling at them after dinner at their house so she didn't feel very deserving of love at present. It was only now that she was a parent that she could understand why they still did, because children deserved to be loved even when they were bad. Her parents had taken her into their hearts so easily, and Em too, even when she was being an obnoxious brat. They loved her even as she shot insults at them and pushed them away. It was time to start showing them openly that she loved them back as their daughter.

"I'm r-really sorry," Emma whispered to her mother's neck. "About before. I-"

"You'll never be alone again, you hear me?" said Mary Margaret tearily. "Even if you run away I will track you down, and I will find you and smother you with hugs."

They each drew out of the embrace in time. David got out his handkerchief to wipe the tears from Emma's cheeks and it made her laugh with embarrassment. Opening up to them was hard for her, but their steady parental love was bringing her walls down one by one.

Once again it was the youngest observer who got them back on track.

"So the curse wasn't really broken... but why is the town in danger?" said Henry. "Why is the border trying to come back?"

Emma had hoped that he would've missed that bit of her explanation but he was too smart.  _Little nerd. That was one-hundred-percent Regina's fault for raising him that way._

She glanced at Regina who was still sitting silently on the bottom step, seemingly ignoring the rest of them. All of this must be hurting her deeply and Emma hated to see her like this. She wanted to go and comfort her, but after their knockdown-drag out fight over Henry earlier she wasn't sure if it would be welcomed. She was scared for her and for more than one reason. But she didn't want Henry to know the truth about the dire threat to his mother. It would scare him, he was much too young to deal with that. He'd been through enough family problems already this past year.

"Kid, it's-"

"It's me," Regina broke in wearily. "The curse is coming for me."

"Regina!" Emma hissed.

"He deserves to know the truth. No more lies."

"But-" Henry looked around at each of the adults. "Everyone will lose their memories. Magic will be gone. What's going to happen to Mom?"

"I won't survive." Regina stood up calmly and gestured to the door. "Emma, you have to take Henry and get out of Storybrooke. Now."

"What?!" cried Emma. "We can't leave. No!"

" _Yes._  Neither of you were cursed so you will be able to pass through the border unscathed. You were right. You should have taken Henry ages ago and left us to deal with all of this fairytale nonsense ourselves. You should have taken him away from me. I have no regrets. I know who I am and what I've done, but I never wanted my son to turn out like  _me_. Take him before the carnage begins. We have to put him first."

"Regina." Emma put a hand on Henry's shoulder because he was looking guilty again. "He's a good kid and you're a good mother. You raised him well. But eventually kids have to go out on their own in the world. And yeah, they're gonna screw up but it doesn't mean you're responsible for everything they do. That's pretty much everything I know about parenting. I'm an expert on screwing up but that's it. I don't want to do this without you. The best way to put Henry first is to keep his family safely together. We're  _all_  getting out of this, ok?"

"Are you really mad, Mom?" mumbled Henry. "I did it for you. For all of us."

That finally broke Regina. Tears slipped down her cheeks and she shook her head. Her voice was thick. "Henry, no. You should never have had to."

"But, Mom, we weren't happy. Not really. We were missing Emma and we didn't even know it. If Emma and I leave now it'll be just as bad because then we'll be missing you. I did it so the three of us could have the chance to be a real family."

"Henry, we are a real family. It's never mattered to me how you came into the world. I love you. I wish I could be the mother you deserve. Without me you would never have been exposed to all of this, to magic and dark curses… none of it. I will fix this for you, sweetheart, if it's the last thing I do. It may well be."

"No," said Emma firmly. "You won't. Henry did this so he's going to be the one to fix it. That's how kids learn from their mistakes. It's our job as parents to help him, not swoop in and live life for him."

Regina stepped towards her with a fierce glare and grabbed Emma's jacket in her fists. "We are NOT risking our son's life to teach him a lesson in self-reliance! This is hardly the time for you to test out your free-range parenting skills."

"Saving the town is up to us. He just has to make the potion. You can help him with that right?"

"Mr Gold said potions were your specialty, Mom," said Henry. "Please, let me do this? I need you. I don't want anything to happen to you. Please, Mom, please?"

Finally, Regina sighed in resignation having encountered a method of persuasion she was powerless to resist. What was it about her child's tone of voice and his pleaded eyes that made her resolve crumble? It had worked at supermarket checkouts when he pleaded for candy and it had worked when he begged to be allowed to go to Ethan G's fourth grade party because everyone else was going - she hadn't wanted to allow it and for good reason.

Regina let go of Emma's clothes and paced a few steps with her fingertips at her temples. "Tell me exactly how you cast the Reflection curse, Henry. I need to know."

Henry held out his flat palm and a scroll of old paper appeared in a puff of purple smoke. It was the missing page from Cora's book rolled up and he showed it to her. It was rather like a cooking recipe, with a list of potion ingredients and instructions for making the curse from scratch. Regina wasn't the only one who recognised it.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Mary Margaret.

"Yes, it's from my mother's book of spells," said Regina. "Emma and I found out that there was a page missing."

"That's the page that was ripped out of Cora's magic book?" said Emma. "It has the Reflection Curse that brought the teenagers here on it? But I thought you said the missing page had the Barrier spell on it?"

Regina turned the paper over and held up the reverse side. "See? It is the same page. The Reflection curse is on the other side of the page with the Barrier spell. We assumed that whoever stole the page was after a curse to reverse the town's border protection but in actual fact it was the other side that was of interest."

"Well," said Emma. "I guess we know how someone broke into your house and stole it. He didn't have to break in."

Regina leveled a stern glare down at her son and held up the ripped page. "Henry, I did not teach you to treat books this way. You tore the page out."

Henry flinched. "It physically hurt me to do that."

Emma's rolled her eyes at them. "Nerds! Both of you. You're more concerned about the book getting defaced than you are about its theft and the magic going awry."

"I'm sorry, but I had to!" Henry ignored Emma's smart remarks and entreated Regina to understand. "It's like you said, Mom, curses have to be cast from originals. I tore out the page so you wouldn't realise the book was missing."

"What did you do then?" Regina asked.

The boy explained the steps to in casting the Reflection curse for the everyone else's benefit and then Regina read out the familiar handwriting.

_Fillet of a fenny snake,_

_In the cauldron boil and bake._

_Eye of newt and toe of frog,_

_Wool of bat and tongue of dog,_

_Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,_

_Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,_

_For a charm of powerful trouble,_

_Like a hell-broth boil and bubble._

_Double, double toil and trouble,_

_Fire burn and cauldron bubble..._

David smiled at how apropos the words were. "Double trouble? That sounds exactly like what Em and Ri brought to Storybrooke."

"They brought more than just that," said Mary Margaret with a twinkle in her eye.

Regina checked the whole scroll over again and frowned. "Henry, are you sure you performed these steps correctly? This list says 'Horseflower', not 'horseraddish' like you just said. Did you forget to let the toad sit under a cold rock for a month until the poison seeped from its pores?"

Emma's jaw dropped. "He stuffed up casting the curse?!"

"Hey," said Henry, taking offense at the slight against his magic skills. "I got it to work."

"But how? How did you know how to make a magic potion? Where did you get all that weird stuff?"

"I used my chem set and some ingredients that Mom has at home."

"Regina!" Emma said incredulously. "How could you keep that stuff lying around at home when you have a kid."

Regina gave her a mild glare. "My mother left her supplies behind. In my defense, Henry wasn't living with me after I got my powers back. He's not a one-year-old who needs to be watched every second of the day. I don't hide the poisons away and lock the toilet seat anymore either."

"Why the hell would anyone lock a toilet?"

"It's a drowning risk," Mary Margaret put in. "Also, young children like to stuff objects in there. We've had the plumbers out at the school twice already this year because of the kindergarteners. They put things in toilets and block them."

"Or toddlers drink out of them," said Regina.

The others were horrified, none more so than the child in question himself.

"Ewww, kid! You drank out of the toilet?" Emma made a face of distaste like she was considering never letting him share her food ever again.

Henry denied it. "No, I didn't!"

"It was only once," Regina said casually. "He was fine. Toilet water isn't harmful as long as the toilet itself is clean and free from bleach and other chemicals."

"Holy crap, I think my lie detector is broken," said Emma. "I can not tell if you are having us all on right now, Regina. You're not making it up for effect or something? Huh, if it is true I bet you weren't this calm when it happened. No way. Fifty bucks says you went straight to the Emergency Department and terrorised the doctors into running every test imaginable... Geez, drinking toilet water. Kids really do things like that?"

"You have no idea do you," said Regina, with an amused twist of the lips. "You missed out on the gross and unfortunate situations that children cause nonstop. You get used to it. When it's 3am and both you and the sick child are covered in three types of bodily fluids the only thing to do is get in the shower with him and hope for sunrise so that you can burn the bedsheets. Then there's exploding diapers, eating bugs, and leaving sticky surprises in Mommy's purse."

"Oh, that's cute!" Emma laughed. "You think you've got the market cornered on the disgusting aspects of motherhood? I'll take that challenge. Pregnancy is so gross, you have no idea. It's nine months of throwing up in your mouth, peeing when you sneeze, and your body not being able to decide whether it prefers constipation or diarrhoea. Oh! and let me tell you a thing or two about the so-called 'miracle of birth'. The baby isn't the only thing that comes out of you when you push… Then for weeks afterwards it's like a crime scene in your underwear. The blood just doesn't-"

"STOP!" David had his hands near the sides of his head. "Stop. Please. This is painful to listen to."

All three women gave him dangerous glares, as if they were offended on behalf of all women, but it was Mary Margaret who backhanded his shoulder. "Painful to listen to?! You think you have it bad, David? I was the one who had to go through that to bring your daughter into the world. She's blunt and impatient just like you."

David stammered, trying to backtrack. "Ah, y-yes. And she's - she's wonderful. Well done, my love."

"Thanks, Dad," said Emma sweetly. "She did do a good job. I am awesome aren't I?"

"You sound like Em," said Henry.

Mary Margaret and Regina shared a rueful look, silently commiserating with each other about their spouses as if to say 'is this what we really have to put up with?' Emma and David started snickering between themselves in a proud Daddy-Daughter conspiratorial manner. They tried to cover it up and then Henry joined in as well.

"Enough shenanigans," said Regina, with halfhearted annoyance. "Can we please get back to the Reflection curse. If Henry mistakenly altered the curse's ingredients then it could've had an unpredictable effect on the result. Something about Em and Ri's presence in Storybrooke might've changed. Perhaps the reverse side of the page, the Barrier spell, was activated as well and that's what is causing the border to shrink."

"Wait a minute," said Emma. "Do you remember what Gold said, Regina? He seemed to think that the girls weren't really here. That they were just magical apparitions or something. What if he was wrong and I was right? The girls really  _are_  time travellers here from the past. Could that be what went wrong with the spell?"

"I've never heard of a time travel spell being successfully cast before. But it's possible. It would mean that they are our actual younger selves, not just mirror images."

"Then they have to go back to the past. Soon. Or you and I could cease to exist, which means Henry won't exist and neither will Storybrooke itself. What if the our pasts have changed so much that we've ruined the fabric of space-time? Or whatever it's called."

Henry piped up. "But Mom's curse was called 'the curse to end all curses'. What happens to the Reflection curse when we make the True Love potion and break Storybrooke's curse for real?"

"There can be no more curses," said Regina in a somber voice. "Even if we survive and the town remains, the border will be gone."

"What happens to Em and Ri?" said Emma.

"They'll be gone too."

Mary Margaret suddenly remembered that no-one but Henry had been home when she and David arrived. "Where are Em and Ri right now?"

* * *

Mills family vault, Storybrooke Memorial Grounds

The cold of the stone floor brought Ri awake feeling groggy and disoriented. A shooting pain radiated in her head and she winced. The teen sat up and took in her surroundings. She was inside a place that was strange and dark and scary. It looked like she was in the Mills family's vault, but it wasn't the one that belonged to her mother on the estate at home. This one was hers.

_What am I doing here? I can't think._

Ri tried to think back to what happened that evening. She cooked dinner, Em loved it, they went for a walk, they got engaged…

_EM!_ Her mind screamed at her and the events came flooding back. Em was gone! That horrid Mrs Gander had kidnapped her or taken her or something. She had to find her. She would never forgive herself if anything happened to Em or the baby.

Ri ran to the door of the vault and tried unlocking it but it wouldn't budge. She pulled the handle repeatedly and bashed on the door. She tried appealing to the blood magic that sealed the door but it was reluctant to obey. Her fledgling magic was still unpredictable.

Back in her own land, threatening to harm one of the Royal family was an effective though despicable method of political blackmail. It seemed that Gander was employing an old tactic here. Ri would be forced to pay whatever ransom was demanded for her girlfriend's safety. The vicious Goose probably didn't realise that she'd actually taken two hostages. Em had a stowaway on board that no-one but themselves knew about.

_I should have taken better care of her - of them! She is with child and no-one else knows it but me. I have to be the strong one right now. She's relying on me to save her. She needs me._

She remembered reading in one of Regina's books on magic that she must learn to focus and then let her emotions awaken her raw power. Any strong emotion could be harnessed as a source of power as long as it was identified in the correct manner by the person seeking to use it. Love was the most complex and difficult to exploit of emotions, while Anger was the easiest and a readily available resource.

_I must focus and use my anger. I have plenty of that._  Ri's mouth curved into a smile. She'd make sure the ancient enemy of her family would regret this latest threat.

Ri clenched her trembling hands into fists and heard a crack. She jumped backwards when the lock destroyed itself in a puff of yellow smoke. The sound she had heard had not been her knuckles cracking, it was evidence of her anger manifesting itself in her environment. The presence of her magic no longer scared her though. It was satisfying feeling the power readying itself to be put to her purpose.

The vault's doors flew open by themselves. The young and future Queen stepped out into the night.

Outside, it was fully dark and the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Ri shivered in the chilly wind and rubbed her bare shoulders. She took a single step and nearly trod on something that was lying in the grass. The teen crouched to the ground to retrieve Em's phone, realising that her girlfriend must have dropped it there (either accidentally or deliberately) when Gander had taken her.

No longer a stranger to technology, Ri navigated the buttons and icons as deftly as any other girl her age. She scrolled through the Contacts list searching for a particular address. Mary Margaret being the organised schoolteacher that she was had all the information Ri needed to track down a house in Storybrooke.

She tapped the screen and a map accompanied by pedestrian directions appeared via the magic of the internet. She did not plan on walking to her destination, this situation definitely justified running.

_I'm coming for you, Em!_

Ri saw flashes in her mind of Em being grabbed and taken away from her. Memory merged with imagination as she pictured all of the horrible ways in which the ancient Gander family traditionally inflicted pain and death upon those who exhibited magical power or consorted with lower beings like fairies. What was Mrs Gander planning to do to Em?

_My heart feels everything so strongly and right now it's terrified for them, my True Love and my baby son. You don't know what you've done, you wicked old Goose. But you are about to._

Lucy Gander had badly underestimated Ri as many others had done before. She had picked a fight with the Swan-Mills family and it would be the worst mistake she would ever make.

_Hurt them and you will pay dearly._

Ri didn't realise it but she wasn't alone in her pursuit. A tiny figure in white pyjamas followed at a distance with all the stealth of a practiced ninja.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The quoted material in this chapter is from Shakespeare's Macbeth Act IV Scene 1. "Fillet of a fenny snake,..."


	57. Crushing

_19 Tremont Street_

Ri pressed the doorbell and glared at the gold nameplate underneath which read 'The Ganders'. She had an irrational desire for the entire family of that name to feel her anger right now. The sound of heavy footsteps came running and the door opened to retrieve a largeish pre-teen boy. He was not too much older than Henry but definitely bigger overall. His sullen brutish face was recognisable from her own world.

"Yeah?" said the insolent boy. He sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Whatdya want? Or go away."

"Don't talk to a lady like that," Ri chastised. "I see your manners haven't improved at all, Georgie Porgie."

"I'm Ethan here, duh. Girls are so stupid."

"Where is your grandmother?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Don't care."

"She is here, I know it. Let me in."

Ethan went to slam the door in her face but Ri stopped it and shoved her foot in the gap. She flicked her index finger against his forehead and he flinched. Greenish mucous magically gushed out of his nose. It blew back and covered his face.

"Ewwww!" said Ethan, swiping at the disgusting sticky mess. "What'd you do that for!"

"That's what you get for being such a little snot. Bully my son again and you'll get much worse."

Ri huffed and brushed straight past him into the house. The TV was blaring in the living where Ethan had presumably been interrupted when he had to answer the door.

A cursory search of the austere barely-furnished rooms turned up nothing. It almost looked like no-one lived here, since there was nothing homely about it. No toys or books or any of the usual trappings of family life, which was strange knowing that a child lived there.

Maybe Ethan hadn't been lying. Maybe Mrs Gander hadn't brought Em here at all. Ri decided to check everywhere again, just to be sure.

"I've been expecting you, Miss Mills."

The voice speaking behind her was unmistakable. It was the Goose. Ri turned around and saw the elderly lady standing there in a threadbare white dressing gown and worn slippers. Her grey hair was still scraped into the same bun hairstyle she wore during the day.

Only someone who knew the older Regina would guess that Ri's polite smile was full of malice. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Mrs Gander. I believe you have something of mine. I'd like it back."

"Follow me."

Gander led her through the hallway and into a room that Ri had somehow missed in her search.

Em was sitting on a straight-backed wooden chair, just sitting there, as though she was at school waiting to be called into the Principal's office. Her dejected expression showed how trapped she felt. But her ankles and wrists were unbound and she was silent despite not being gagged. Obviously there was something more than physical restraints holding her back.

"Em!" Ri ran to her and cupped her bare face with both hands. "Are you ok?!"

"No," grumbled Em. "I've been kidnapped by a Nursery Rhyme character. How embarrassing."

"Did she hurt you?"

"Nah."

Ri sighed. "I was so worried about you. Where are your glasses?"

"The Goose took them. I can't see well enough without them, especially outside in the dark, so I don't know where we are. How did you find me?"

"I have your phone. I used the Googler for directions."

Em laughed. "Don't ever change, Ri."

Ri smiled. For the moment, her love was safe and nothing else mattered. She leaned in for a soft kiss, wondering if she had ever been as relieved to see Em as she was right now. Every time she saw her made her feel like she was falling for her just a little bit more. She remembered back to the first time she'd felt that for someone, when the she had met a tomboy-ish girl in the woods. It seemed so long ago now that they had met for the first time, and how unlikely it was that they had met at all. She had been so afraid back then landing in such a strange world completely alone. Em had comforted and protected her from the very beginning. It was her turn this time. She could be strong too.

"Can we get out of here using your ability to you-know-what?" Ri dropped her voice lower.

Em shook her head.

"But aren't you like Houdini?" asked Ri, using Em's catchcry from when she'd first arrived in Storybrooke which referred to her knack of getting in and out of locked buildings. The day they had met Em had boasted that she could escape the cell at the Sheriff's station.

"I can't do that anymore. Not since H."

Ri racked her brain for options. She realised why Em hadn't simply gotten up and ran away from Gander, she couldn't escape her captor on her own because her powers had been dormant ever since she became pregnant. Neither could she run out into the cold night not knowing where she was and not being able to see very well. Ri knew it was up to her now. She was the one with magic now as well as the advantage because Gander might not know that.

"I don't like being locked up," said Em in a small voice. "I hate feeling like I'm trapped and can't get away if I need to."

"I know, sweetheart," Ri whispered, stroking Em's cheek. "I will get us out of here, I promise. Do you trust me?"

"Of course."

For a minute there the girls had almost forgotten that they weren't alone.

"Your friend is my insurance," said Mrs Gander, emotionless as she watched the two younglings interact. "She is not to move from that spot until you give me what I want."

Ri turned around with a hard look. "And what is that? You are presuming that I have what you want and that I am willing to turn it over."

"I think you will, Miss Mills. You'll notice that I refuse to acknowledge you as either Queen or Princess. Your older self will certainly not be re-elected as Mayor if I have anything to do with it. You see, I've finally put all of the pieces together about what has been happening here in Storybrooke lately. I know that you and the young Emma Swan do not belong here."

Ri rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's true. We are not our older selves, we're teenagers. Congratulations on finally noticing."

Gander seemed pleased. "Thank you. It also means that no-one will miss you if you go missing. Or if something untoward were to happen to you... how could one be held legally responsible for the injury or death of someone who is technically still alive?"

"Oh wow," said Ri in an exaggerated voice. She pretended boredom by examining a nail. "That is a really good point. Did you hear that, Em? I think she's threatening us."

"If anything happens to either or both of you here in your future the past will change - for everyone. The Evil Queen will never cast the curse, the Saviour will never give birth, and Storybrooke will never exist. The crown will never rest upon your brow if I have my way. The tyranny of the Royals will end."

"Sorry to ruin your nefarious plan," Ri contradicted her. "But you can't change the past. Everything that is happening here now for Em and me is already part of Emma and Regina's history. That's how I know we leave here unscathed. We get away. You're going to lose. Everything will happen the way it happened and I will be both Queen and Mayor no matter what you do."

Mrs Gander lips tightened almost like a beak and she tipped her head. "We'll see."

* * *

_108 Mifflin St_

Downstairs in the mansion the heating and lights were still on even though it was well after midnight.

Mary Margaret and David had gone home to salvage what they could of the rest of the night's sleep. There was a delicate task ahead for early the next day. They would have to face the public try to quell the panic until the plan to concoct the True Love Potion could be enacted. Even in Storybrooke the people still turned towards the Royals for leadership.

The teenagers hadn't been heard from since that morning despite repeated calls to Em's phone. Regina was worried but Emma maintained that the girls had obviously gone out for a reason and that they should be trusted to come back on their own. Regina commented that it was highly suspicious of her to say so given her previous distrust of the teens, especially Em. Either Emma knew where the girls had gone (using her ability to magically locate people) or she didn't want them to come back just yet. But she refused to say which.

There were only three left at the Swan-Mills household and one of them had already fallen asleep. The other two were sniping at each other and occasionally lapsing into silence while they worked.

At first Emma tried to help with the potion-making but her "helping" was more like "getting in the way". She broke a pippette, made yuck-faces at the ingredients, and generally acted like a pest. Regina ordered her far enough away so that she couldn't ruin anything.

"I'd prefer you to be out of hearing distance too, dear, so I don't have to listen to your smart comments!" Regina called out sarcastically.

Emma ignored her and went upstairs to lay down. Presumably she'd fallen asleep soon after because they hadn't heard a peep from her since.

Regina thought it best to sit side-by-side with Henry and help him at every step of the way as he made the potion. She had sat down with him many times at the dining room table in this way when helping him with his homework. That aspect of motherhood required endless patience and persistence but  _this_  involved a whole new level of self-control.

The True Love Potion was critical. It could only be used once. Any mistake in the making of the final product would be lethal. They had only one chance.

Henry didn't seem to realise how dangerous the process was. Either that or he had taken to foolish levels his unwavering belief that everything would be okay. Regina blamed his Charming genes for that. She was not so confident. The desire to take over and do it for him was strong. She had to make sure he got the final product perfectly correct and so she was watching his every move like a hawk.

"Mom! Let me do it myself ok," Henry complained. He grabbed the mortar and pestle and held it away when she tried to take it from him. He was too stubborn to give it over to her and kept going.

"Henry!" chastised Regina. "I'm just trying to help. I've crushed the exoskeletons of parasitic insects more times than you have crushed that candy game on my phone-"

"You sound like Ri. It's 'Candy Crush Saga'."

"-There's a particular way in which it must be done. You must grind the shells with the pestle in circular motions until the powder begins to heat up. Three turns anti-clockwise, then one turn clockwise, and then repeat until-"

"I know. That's what I'm doing."

"Yes, that's good. But-"

"Mom!"

_Swirl-swirl-swirl-_

"Not too fast!" Regina's warning came a second late.

_BANG!_

There was a bright flash in the small stone mortar and the powdered bug shells puffed into a small cloud of dust which dissipated into the air. They both leaned back so as not to breathe it in. Henry waved his hand in the air to swoosh the dust out of their faces.

Regina gave her son a parental look. "You were doing it too fast."

"You were nagging me too much," said Henry in an identical snooty tone.

"You need to be more careful where magical substances are concerned. I cannot emphasize that enough. What if it had been the Fire Ants?"

"I guess they would have caught on fire."

"Yes, that's exactly what would happen. I can't believe Mr Gold hasn't taught you better than this." Regina muttered the last part, it was more of a criticism of the master than the student.

Henry ignored the slight and went fossicking in the wooden chest for more supplies so that they could start over with the Bed Bugs part. Regina had some of her own incredients but a lot of the substances were brought over by Cora who had left them in the Mills vault with the rest of her belongings before she died.

Regina disapproved of her master's failure to teach her son proper safety for performing magical chemistry. She watched Henry pour out another measure of Bed Bugs, hoping that he would get it right this time. They didn't have the luxury of time or enough supplies to keep making mistakes. She had to restrain herself from commenting as he crushed the shells for the second attempt.

This time Regina held her tongue and let him do it in his own way. It worked and when Henry was finished heating the bug shells he sat back in relief.

"This is a weird potion," the boy announced. "It's got Bed Bugs, Fire Ants, and digested butterflies in it. I've never heard of that combination before. Not to mention all the other unrelated ingredients. Mr Gold said every element in a potion is essential to the finished product and the recipe says we have to do all these complicated steps. Then it's supposed to explode at the end and glow afterwards. What does that have to do with love anyways? I don't get it."

"Ask your mother," Regina muttered. "The other one."

"Why not you?"

"I… I think Emma wanted to give you that talk."

"Why?"

"Because she missed out on so many of your milestones growing up. I thought she would appreciate this one."

Henry became suspicious. "Are you guys fighting again?"

Regina deflected the question. "That's not important right now,"

"Yes it is!" her son insisted. "This whole thing is about the two of you. Everything that happens is always about you and Emma. You belong together."

"I don't know if Emma believes that," Regina admitted.

"But it's true! You have to help her believe."

"I can't. You know what a skeptic she is when it comes to magic."

"Yeah, but... I wish you two wouldn't fight," Henry said with a pout. "I love you both and I want us all to be together."

"I know, honey. Me too. Come here."

Regina drew Henry into her arms for a hug. It was both a comforting and terrifying reminder of what she was risking. Her son. Her precious little boy. She had vowed many years ago that she would do anything to protect him. That had always been her fervent promise. Whether it was in her power to do so was an entirely different thing.

If she didn't survive the rebound of her curse, Henry would lose a parent. It would be up to Emma to raise him alone. Regina hated the idea that she wouldn't be around to see him grow up into a young man. She had a fundamental need to be there for him in life. But if she tried and failed to make the potion that would break the curse he could be killed. If it was a choice between her life and his, she knew what she would do without question.

There was nothing in the universe worse than the helpless feeling of not being able to protect your child.

It was lucky that Henry didn't question her about why his mothers were fighting. Regina wanted to be able to say that it was nothing to do with him, that it was just a disagreement that adults have sometimes and it didn't mean that she and Emma didn't love each other… but she couldn't. Their fight had everything to do with Henry. Their son was what they always fought about. They hadn't talked about it yet and she wasn't sure what Emma wanted with regards to their future. It had been a pretty serious fight. She couldn't help feeling intensely angry about it and Emma was no doubt still seething as well.

_Perhaps this way it will be easier on her… if she has to lose me. If she has to carry on and raise our son alone..._

It seemed ridiculous now to waste time fighting over their child's parentage when their time together might be running out, minute by precious minute.

Henry yawned and closed his eyes. He was getting sleepy. Regina rubbed his shoulder and leaned over to place a kiss in his hair. "It's very late. Why don't you go on up to bed and have a sleep?"

"But I have to help make the potion-"

"The next part has to simmer for a while. Love takes time to develop. I'll stay up. I promise I'll wake you when it's ready."

Regina gave him another goodnight kiss and sent the reluctant eleven-year-old off to bed. Through the archway she watched him drag his feet upstairs. As soon as he disappeared she got back to work by herself.

* * *

_3am_

Hours later Emma woke alone and went to investigate why Regina still hadn't come to bed. A quick check of Henry's room revealed that their son was sound asleep. She went downstairs looking for the other Mills in her life.

Emma leaned in the doorframe watching Regina fiddle with her glass chemistry pieces. Something was bubbling, something was letting off steam, and something was producing an undesirable smell. She had no idea how any of it worked but it looked impressive.

It would probably not be a good idea to tell Regina how much she resembled her cartoon alter-ego from the Disney movie right now. The only missing elements were the skull, the crow, and the crone's cackling laughter. In this case the Evil Queen was preparing a potion not to take a life but to save one. Plus restore an entire town's memories permanently.

"Is the potion coming along ok?" asked Emma, announcing her presence.

Regina looked tired as she adjusted and monitored the chemical processes. In one swift movement the beautiful sorceress picked up a tiny mixing flask and hurled it against the wall. The tinkle as it smashed to pieces answered the question more than words could.

Emma raised her eyebrows. "I'm gonna take that as a 'No'."

"Shut up," snapped Regina. "Or the next thing I throw against a wall will be you."

_No objections here,_ Emma wanted to say. Instead she decided not to antagonise. "So... what's wrong with the potion?"

"I can not get it right! I followed the instructions that Gold gave us but it's not working the way he described it."

"Maybe the instructions are wrong?"

"Emma," Regina sighed in frustration, gesturing unnecessarily. "Do you ever pay attention? I said I can't do it. Magical chemistry is a very delicate field of study. Henry and I have been working on this for hours to get it right and it's still not working. A complicated potion like this is useless if the smallest amount of any ingredient is off. We can't even consider using the final product unless it's perfect. It's too risky. I must be doing something wrong."

"Or - like I said - maybe it's the instructions that are wrong." She saw Regina about to speak and hastily continued. "Wait. Before you get mad, hear me out. Gold says this True Love thing is rare right? So he's probably only made the potion once before, when he used my parents' love to bring magic to Storybrooke. He gave you the instructions for their love, not ours."

The idea peaked Regina's attention. "You think the potion is unique for each True Love pairing?"

Emma shrugged. "I don't know. The relationship is unique so why not? Why do two people fall in love in the first place? The reasons can't be written on paper. Maybe you need to feel for the right way to make the potion instead of following a set of instructions. It's love, it doesn't do what you want it to do. Not in my experience anyway."

"Then the magic of True Love is just as unpredictable as dark magic. If that is the case it doesn't help us much."

"Why?"

"Because I'd have to invent a new potion for us from scratch. We have only a few days left, less perhaps, if things deteriorate more quickly. Even if I could manage such a task there's not enough time before the town is destroyed."

"You'll do it. Somehow. You know what's at stake-"

Regina's eyes flashed and her famous temper flared into an outburst. "I do, yes! Believe me I know. Do you think I don't feel the pressure of this crushing me? Do you think I'm unaware that I'm  _this close_  to losing everything dear to me? If I do nothing the town goes back to the miserable state of the curse, which means that you lose your parents and it's my fault for not preventing it. Or, I fail to make this potion correctly and my son is killed in the attempt. I'm powerless to stop my own curse! Everything I love is to be taken from me. How can I opt for either of those choices?!"

"There's a third option. Make the potion, restore the town, save our family and then -"

"Live happily ever after? How quaint your delusions are."

Emma fought an eye-roll. "Well, it's not exactly helpful assuming that it's impossible is it. If we lose hope then we're automatically defeated. Hope is the most important thing we have."

"You sound just like  _her_ ," Regina said spitefully. "Your blind faith that Good will prevail in the end clouds your ability to see the present reality of how insurmountable this task is. Unfortunately that kind of baseless idealism seems to run in your family. But I can't trust it. I won't."

"We have to do this because there is no other option."

"You're saying 'we' a lot. I'm the target of the curse rebounding."

Emma was running out of ideas. She could tell that Regina was spiraling into negativity and didn't want her to lose faith. Even though she was close to it herself.

The Sheriff pushed away from the arch and went to take the chair opposite Regina at the dining table. As she sat down, Regina's eyes tracked her every move.

"I don't know much about magic," Emma said softly, pleading with her face. "But whatever happens I know it's gonna suck a whole lot less if we get through it together. It's our best chance."

Emma offered a small smile as a gesture that she was open to resolving their fight. But the blank stare she got in return wasn't encouraging and her hope that they could sit down and talk about it evaporated. Clearly Regina wasn't ready to patch things up. In fact, it was the opposite. She looked like she was working her way up to downright hostility.

"Before I forget," Regina said, turning her attention back to the potion kit and changing the subject completely. "Henry has a dentist appointment at 2.30 on Wednesday. Are you available to pick him up from school and take him? I've got meetings all afternoon about budget proposals for my re-election campaign, provided that I'm alive and the town is still standing that is. But I can shuffle things around if I have to. I need to know one way or the other."

"I'll be there." Emma ran her hand through her hair in exasperation. "Why do you ask like I'm gonna refuse? You know my workload is light. I've got time to make sure my kid's teeth aren't rotting in his head for god's sake."

Regina wouldn't meet her eyes and Emma got the feeling she was deliberately avoiding eye contact. "I was a single mother for ten years. I'm perfectly capable of managing my son alone. If I'm still alive next week, I can go back to that life if I have to."

"You won't have to! Let's be clear. You are not dying, and no matter what happens between you and me I'm not leaving him."

"You mean you're not leaving him  _again_ , dear. You have once already."

Emma slammed her fist on the table and the sound shocked them both. "That is unfair and you know it! I hate it when you're like this, Regina. You're trying to piss me off on purpose. Why are you acting this way?"

"Keep your voice down, you'll wake Henry." Regina glared.

_ARGHHH!_  Emma screamed out her frustration in her mind. It was maddening as hell when Regina did that. When she changed the subject in the middle of an argument, especially one she was losing. She was taking cheap shots and rubbing salt into old wounds. 'The Mayor' was back in her least favourite incarnation.

Emma so wished that they were past this already. She was sick of arguing and tired of being attacked for every flaw in her past that her son's adoptive mother felt compelled to remind her of. Regina couldn't let it go. Ever. She took every opportunity to accuse her of abandoning their son as though she'd wilfully cast him aside and had never wanted him. Regina  _knew_  that was untrue and still she'd said it! After everything they'd talked about and gone over together as a couple, Emma's feelings about giving him up and Regina's reasons for adopting him… she'd thought they'd made progress towards coming to terms with their pasts. But perhaps she was wrong? Was everything unravelling now, thread by thread?

Earlier tonight they'd fought over Henry's custody as though it were last year and they had only just met. Sometimes it felt as though they were back at the beginning. Their son was the keystone of their relationship and it was he who had brought them together initially. The one thing they had most in common was also the reason they sought to tear each other down.

_What's happening to us?_

Across the table Regina didn't seem to be experiencing the same turmoil that Emma was. It looked like she was content with fiddling with her little bottles of hocus-pocus in silence.

Emma rose with an inaudible sigh and snatched up her jacket and keys. "I have to go."

"Where are you going this time?" Regina's head whipped around in her direction. "I meant what I said earlier this evening. I'm not going to put up with you walking out on me every time we have a fight. It's manipulative and I refuse to live like that, since apparently I'm not allowed to die. I will not sit at home and wonder whether you're leaving me for good this time."

"I'm not leaving you! I'm pissed at you, there's a difference. I'm going out because I got woken up just now by a call about a missing kid. The Mom is frantic and didn't want to wait 'til morning to contact the Station. She said she's your friend, Janet Meadows?"

Regina's face turned to confused worry in an instant. "Yes. Her three children are Henry's friends. Janet dropped Henry home tonight after the movies. What happened?"

"They went home after that and the kids went to sleep. Apparently the Dad woke up around midnight for some reason and when he went to check on the kids the youngest was gone."

She thought that would be the end of it but as soon as Emma grabbed her keys and headed for the front door, Regina got up to follow her out. Apparently she had given her enough information for her to want more. It was mildly gratifying in a pathetic way, Emma caught herself thinking it. The Mayor still needed her for something after all.

"Jenna's missing?" Regina clarified.

"Yeah. The parents said the bedroom window was left open and the room was freezing cold. Doesn't seem to have been a struggle and nothing was missing. It sounds like a runaway to me."

"But Jenna wasn't unhappy at home as far as I'm aware. It doesn't sound like her."

"Hey, I've known a lot of runaway kids. Trust me, some of them have good reason to run away and it's not always obvious to other people. Some families look like rainbows and hearts from the outside, but inside it's a whole different story."

"That isn't the case here. I know the family."

"Well, I don't and I'm the Sheriff," Emma replied stubbornly. "So until I determine whether the kid's ok I'm not ruling anything out."

"What are you going to do?"

"It's too early to know for sure. But the least I can do is drive around and see if I can spot the kid. She's eleven, right? If she has run away she's probably gone to the park or something. I'll find her."

Regina nodded and crossed her arms. "Very well. Go. Keep an eye out for the girls while you're at it. If you find them remind them that there's a perfectly decent bed upstairs and that they shouldn't be sneaking around outside in the middle of a storm. We're long past the point of stopping them from pawing at each other as they are wont to do."

"Don't worry about Em and Ri. They'll be fine." Emma dismissed the concern with a lazy wave.

"How do you know?"

"Because they're together. They're not like us, or our potion apparently. Things don't have to be perfect for them to get along just fine."

Emma inserted her key into the deadlock on the front door and twisted it with a clunk. She felt Regina step closer next to her. She frowned when the other woman smooth fingered the hem of her shirt, pulling it down. Being sniped at in the middle of the night had frayed her temper and she knew where this was going.

"You can't wear this-" Regina started.

Emma batted the hands away from her shirt defensively. "Get off it, Regina! I know you hate this shirt. You've told me a billion times that flannel isn't an acceptable fabric to wear in public. Newsflash, I don't care. It's the middle of the night and I threw on the first thing I could find. My job is rough and messy sometimes and I need to be able to move. I don't priss around in an office all day wearing Prada. I'm the Sheriff. No-one cares what I wear except you."

"At least cover it up with something." The way Regina sounded she wasn't bothered by the explosion of anger at all. She held out her hands in front of her like she were carrying something draped over her forearms. There was a purple puff of smoke and a second later a bundle of clothing appeared there. It was an all-weather parka with the title 'SHERIFF' written across the shoulders in white block lettering. She offered it to Emma without explanation.

There was no point arguing. Emma took the proffered jacket and added the extra layer over her flannel shirt, then ran her hand around the collar to free her long blonde curls. She glanced upstairs. "Is Henry asleep? He might know something. If Jenna was planning to run away she might've told her friends."

"Don't wake him."

"Why?"

"Because if he knows Jenna is missing he will want to go looking for her. He has a hero complex, like someone else I know. I doubt she told him anything."

"Alright. But if I don't find her by morning I'll have to question him then."

As soon as Emma opened the door the strength of the wind hit and nearly slammed it shut in her face. Regina held it securely and they both glanced overhead at the clouded night sky where no stars could be seen.

"It's dangerous to be out in this weather," Regina commented, acting as though nothing was out of the ordinary. "You must find Jenna right away. The storm sounds like it's getting worse."

"Yeah, I don't want to be out longer than necessary. Stay inside, ok?

Emma bit her lips together and fidgeted. There was a lot she wanted to say but not right now when they were angry with each other. She wasn't sure how to reassure Regina that she wasn't going to leave, having already broken that trust. She struggled to find words but didn't want to leave without saying anything.

"I will be back," Emma nodded, feeling nervous and lame. "Then we can uh, work on the potion stuff. Maybe we can talk later or something?"

Regina didn't answer so she hid a sigh of disappointment and made her way to the yellow Bug which was parked in the driveway behind the sleek black Mercedes. The wind was blowing hard enough to make it difficult for or her to walk in a straight line, hitting her in gusts from alternate sides. The rushing howl made it hard to hear and she wasn't sure if she could trust her own ears.

Getting in the car she thought she heard Regina say something behind her, but when she turned around the front door was already shut. Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but it sounded like the voice said: "Be careful, Em."


	58. Karate kid

A lone car passed through the darkened streets of Storybrooke on patrol. Its single occupant, Sheriff Emma Swan, ducked her head to peer through the passenger side window to scan the empty sidewalks. She was looking for a little girl, a runaway who had disappeared from her bed in the middle of the night.

She didn't know the kid personally but Regina seemed to think it unlikely that Henry's friend Jenna had run away. Hopefully she was right and nothing worse had happened to the girl. It hadn't been long so perhaps she'd turn up before the Sheriff had to officially report her as missing.

So far Emma had concentrated her search on the streets and parks nearest to Jenna's house in case she hadn't gone far. But there was no sign of her.

"Where are you, Jenna?" she muttered to herself.

What would make an apparently happy eleven-year-old leave her safe house and loving family in the middle of the night?

As a teenager Emma had been a runaway more times than she could count. This was the first time she could sympathise with being on the other side. She knew what the parents must have been going through right now. Her son was the same age. She could easily imagine it herself. The fear of losing her child, being worried sick that she'd never see her son again, not being able to see Henry every day… She had lived without him for so long already and dreaded having to go back to that, especially permanently. If it was in her power she'd make damn sure the Meadowses wouldn't have to go through it at all.

It made her realise how stupid it was to fight with Regina at a time like this. As soon as the border mess was sorted out she was going to sit down with her and work things out… whatever was going on with them at the moment was a problem.

_I love her and I'm pretty sure she still loves me. We share a son. Isn't that enough for us to build a family upon?_

On the far edge of town now, the Sheriff turned into a residential street - Tremont Street - a part of town she hadn't come across before. Emma frowned at the row of imposing, almost gothic-like houses. Each one was dark grey and appeared to be decrepit or unkempt at the very least, as though no-one lived there. However, the presence of cars in driveways and kids' toys scattered on some of the porches testified that the houses were indeed inhabited. She wondered what Regina had been thinking when she'd created this particular Storybrooke street and how many of her enemies she'd relegated to this particular part of town. Just another unsettling thing to add to the list of things Emma would rather not know about the past.

It wasn't just the creep-factor that gave her a bad feeling about this place though. Something deep inside her senses convinced her to stop and check it out further. Whatever it was, it told her that this was the place to find the missing girl.

The Sheriff pulled her patrol car over to the kerb and cut the engine. She zipped her jacket higher and got out of the car, raising a torch in front of her. Somehow the weak light from the beam didn't do much to brighten the 4am darkness.

Emma squinted into the gusting wind. The weather was still working itself up into a rage.

As she walked her boots crunched on the gravel of the rough badly maintained road. It was freezing cold being out at this time of night and she sent a silent thanks to Regina for the extra-thick jacket. She cursed herself for being an idiot and not recognising the peace offering for what it was.

_Ohhh,_ Emma groaned to herself.  _So that's what she was up to. I'm going to have to apologise for snapping at her. She's probably going to make me get down on my knees for it… and not in the fun way._

The Sheriff hadn't made it far down the street before she saw a tiny white figure sitting on the kerb outside one of the dreariest houses in the row.

"Jenna, is that you?" she called, trying not to spook her. "Jenna Meadows?"

The little girl turned to face her as she approached but didn't answer. Jenna was underdressed for the chilly night air in her white karate uniform and had her hair braided in two plaits that hung either side of her young face. She tilted her head up and watched Emma come toward her.

"Hi Jenna. Are you okay?" Emma bent over to make herself seem less tall and imposing of a figure. "I'm the Sheriff, my name is Emma and I'm here to help you. Do you mind if I sit down with you?"

Jenna shook her head and shivered. Before sitting on the concrete next to her, Emma took off her jacket and wrapped the tiny girl in its engulfing warmth. Jenna's blonde head, reddened nose, and wide eyes were the only part of her sticking out now.

"There you go," said Emma softly. "It's pretty cold, huh? Not a great night to be outside alone. Do you wanna tell me why you came here?"

"I don't know," said Jenna in a small voice.

"You don't know? Did something happen to make you scared? Or maybe something that made you want to you leave your house? Did anyone yell at you or hurt you? It's ok to tell me. I'm here to help."

"No. Nothing like that. I think I came here to help somebody but I don't know who."

"You mean you don't remember?"

Again Jenna shook her head. There was something about her that reminded Emma of a puppy at an animal shelter begging silently to be taken home. It struck her as odd that the girl couldn't remember why she'd run away outside by herself at such an hour. She made a mental note to check with the parents whether their daughter had ever been known to sleepwalk.

Emma wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her shoulder. "That's ok. We'll figure it out later. For now, let's get you home."

Jenna allowed Emma to help her to her feet and took her hand as they walked back to the Sheriff's car at the beginning of the street. As they walked Emma tried to engage her with questions, so she could check her emotional state and then decide whether or not she should go to hospital. But she seemed fine, other than being cold and acting timid with a stranger.

Jenna looked down at the clothes she was wearing underneath the enormous jacket and pulled at the thick yellow belt that was knotted around her waist. "Why am I wearing this?"

It had occurred to Emma that it was a strange outfit for a kid to be wearing in the middle of the night in lieu of pyjamas but she'd dismissed it at first. "Isn't that your karate uniform?" she said.

"Yes, but I'm only a white belt. I'm not getting graded until the end of the school year because I haven't got enough practice hours yet. I can't wait til Fourth grade is over! It feels like it's taking forever."

"You're in Fourth grade?" said Emma, confused. "I thought you moved up to Fifth with Henry."

"Henry Mills? Nope," said Jenna. "He's in Miss Blanchard's Fourth grade class with me. We're both ten but my birthday is coming up first."

Warning bells sounded in Emma's mind. Henry and all the other schoolchildren had finally advanced for the first time ever after the curse had broken. The new school year had started ages ago. Both kids were  _eleven_  years old now, not ten. Either Jenna had gotten her own age wrong or her parents had. The clues began to add up. Jenna couldn't remember why she came out here tonight and she seemed to think it was only last year. It was almost as if-

Emma asked her a test question. "How long have you been in Miss Blanchard's class, Jenna?"

"For as long as I can remember," Jenna intoned.

Emma's heart sank. Jenna's response was very familiar, it was the same parroted response the cursed citizens of Storybrooke used when asked to explain something about their past. Their memories were a haze to them, as though each day was lived the same way and nobody noticed that nothing ever changed. Nobody except Henry, who hadn't been cursed, and Regina, who had known about it the whole time.

Emma realised that Jenna must have lost her memories sometime tonight while she'd been wandering alone at the edge of town and that could only mean one thing. The shrinking border had already reached residential Storybrooke.

_What am I going to do? How the hell can I protect the town from such a threat? My parents could be next to lose their memories..._

The Sheriff fished for something to say, realising that it felt much less natural talking to some other kid than it did with her son. "So, Henry's in your class?"

"Yup."

"Are you friends?"

Jenna shook her head. "Not really. Henry doesn't have any friends."

"Oh." Emma felt a pang of maternal guilt in her heart. now that Jenna had lost her memory her son had lost a friend. It was her own fault, one way or the other. Why did he have to inherit her tendency to be a loner? "He's a pretty cool kid you know."

"The other kids laugh at him because he still believes in fairytales. Maybe Santa too, I don't know. My brothers told me Santa wasn't real when I was little and Daddy got really mad at them. It was great. So I pretend I still believe."

"Why do you pretend?"

"I dunno. It's fun. Hey, can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"My cousin Jess is gay. It means she likes girls instead of boys. Don't tell anyone else though because I think it's still a secret and there are some mean bullies in Storybrooke. But you're the Sheriff, you have to protect secrets too. You will look out for her for me, won't you?"

Emma smiled. "Yes, I promise."

"I heard her talking to my Mom. I think Jess still believes in fairytales but she sounded sad about it."

"How come?"

"Because she said she doesn't think she can have a happy ending any more."

That was familiar, a worry that Emma herself had felt as a teenager too when she was still trying to figure it all out. If only she had had someone to talk to back then. Like Em has now with Ri. Like she has now with Regina. Why couldn't it have been real that they had met as teenagers? Maybe she wouldn't have ended up as such a screw-up. But what if she could help another young person avoid all of that pain...

"You can tell Jess not to give up hope," said Emma. "I used to think the exact same thing when I was a teenager. I started believing in happiness again when I found a princess of my own. I even fought a dragon for her. Sort of. Believe me, happy endings are possible for everyone."

Jenna giggled. "That's funny."

"Why is it funny?"

"Because you're so old and you still believe in fairytales and dragons."

"Hey! I'm not that old-" Emma stopped herself mid-protest. She wasn't entirely sure whether the kid was being a little smartass or whether her comment was innocent. It took a barely a second to realise that Jenna was right. Maybe it was all the trouble with the border, or the threat of running out of time, but it started Emma thinking of her own existential angst.

_Oh god, I'm closing in on 30. I have an eleven-year-old. I'm the Sheriff, responsible for an entire town. The only way I could be more boring is if I had a mortgage, which I don't need because I live with the Mayor. Even my parents are younger than me! If the curse wasn't really broken does that mean Regina isn't aging either? Gah!_

_I AM old. How did this happen?! Where did the time go?_

_This is all Em's fault. If it wasn't for her running all over town reminding me of what an immature brat I used to be I wouldn't even be thinking it._

_Where on earth is that brat tonight anyways...?_

"Well, maybe we'll see some real-life fairytales come true some day?" Emma smiled.

Jenna grinned and nodded back.

They had reached the patrol car by now so the Sheriff opened the passenger door and helped Jenna into the seat. The short walk in the cold night air left her with a jaw aching from clenching. A sudden gust of wind passed straight through the flannel of her shirt and chilled her to the bone. Obviously she wasn't enough of a responsible adult to remember to bring a jacket without her wife's prompting. She wasn't looking forward to explaining to Henry that his crush had lost her identity either. Another sign that she was still immature. Was it any wonder that she irritated Regina so much?

"Alright, karate k-kid," Emma fought the chatter of her teeth. "Show me your f-fingernails. I wanna check if they're still blue."

Jenna held up her fists which were completely engulfed by the enormous jacket. "I love the Karate Kid! It's my favourite movie, the original one of course. Not the remake."

"Yeah, it is a great movie. By the way, Henry likes movies too…" Emma trailed off, realising her attempts at match-matching were completely transparent. "Nevermind. Let's get you home before I turn into an icicle. Or a fossil."

* * *

_21 Tremont Street_

Inside the dreariest house on the street the occupants were unaware of what had happened outside in the street earlier. The little girl who never quite made it to her destination had been discovered sitting on the kerb in the front yard by the Sheriff and then led away.

They were in a back room. The wallpaper - a sickening reddish colour - was peeling away from the walls and a single bulb hung from the ceiling, doing little to illuminate the room fully. The only furniture was dingy and old. There was but one picture frame atop the wooden surface containing an arrangement of long-dead relatives. A pair of thick black plastic-rim glasses were sitting next to it on a frilly doily that had yellowed with age.

"Is boring us to death your next torture tactic, Mrs Gander?" said Ri.

The school principal circled around the back of the chair where Em was sitting with a weary slump in her posture.

Ri was sitting on the floor next to her, daintily cross-legged in her pretty dress, looking completely unrattled by the lengthy interrogation. Lucy Gander was growing more stern as Ri stubbornly defied each question that was asked.

The droop of her eyes showed that Em was very tired. It was late, early morning in fact, and recently she had needed a lot more sleep than usual so it was no surprise. Ri held Em's hand in hers and smoothed her thumb across the back of her knuckles in an attempt to comfort her. A simple gesture to keep them anchored and to remind her girlfriend that she was still the same Ri, no matter how hard an act she put on for their captor's benefit.

"Tell me what I want to know," said Mrs Gander.

Ri faked a long-suffering sigh. "What was the question again?"

"My family's secrets. I want them."

"That's not a question."

Gander's beady eyes narrowed. "Miss Mills, do not try my patience! I teach six year olds. I am well-accustomed to dealing with childish insolence. You will not succeed at whatever game you are playing."

"You seem to be getting frustrated by my lack of cooperation. Perhaps you can get to the point so that I may take my girlfriend home? You have kept us here for three hours. You've been asking me the same question over and over. I'm not telling you anything for nothing."

"Your late mother deserves no such loyalty from you. By all reports you were a very unhappy girl at home."

Ri couldn't hide that she was taken aback by Gander's knowing about her family life. The only redeeming aspect of her home life and the way her mother treated her was the fact that outside visitors to the estate were rarely witness to it. Her mother would never allow it to become public knowledge, she would let nothing compromise the family's reputation nor her daughter's marital prospects.

"Don't look so surprised," said Gander, enjoying the point she had won. "I've been acquainted with Coraline Mills for over forty years. I know things about your mother that would run shivers down your spine. She kept records of everything her spies discovered about Royal intrigues and politics, including slander against my family which she then used to extort my silence for many years. But no more. Cora Mills had many secrets of her own. Everything was stored in that vault of hers."

"I wouldn't know anything about that. I've never been allowed to go in there and besides, Mother's vault doesn't even exist in this world."

"You will find a way to give me what I want. Ask that swindling imp, Mr Gold. He was close to your mother before she married into Royalty. If anyone knows the key to her hideyholes it's him. He knew her  _very_  well I hear."

Ri wasn't so unworldly that she didn't detect the crass innuendo but she did not believe what she heard. Her lip curled in distaste at the offensive implication. "Your attempt to sully my mother's reputation is pathetic. Of course Mother was pure when she married my father. How dare you suggest otherwise!"

"You're so naive. Cora was-"

_Rustle rustle..._

Whatever Mrs Gander was going to reveal about her enemy she was interrupted by strange noises coming from the kitchen. She left the teenagers alone in the room momentarily to investigate.

From the sound of it her grandson Ethan had come down for a middle-of-the-night snack and was raiding the fridge. The School Principal's reprimands were severe but Ethan was being a naughty brat and holding up his end of the fight, both of which indicated the style of parenting that was taken in this particular house.

The Ganders's arguing gave Em the chance she thought they had been waiting for. She stood up, careful not to make any undue noise, and leaned over to offer Ri a hand-up from the floor.

"Let's go," Em whispered. "We can slip out the door while she's distracted. You'll have to lead so I don't bump into everything."

Ri shook her head and pulled back on the hand instead of letting it lift her to her feet. "Wait! Not yet. I want to find out what she knows about my family. She may know more about how my Father lost his title when I was little. It's why Mother is pushing me so hard towards a Royal marriage in order to regain my former claim to the throne. I have to know what it's all about."

"Are you sure you want to know that badly? This might be our best chance to get away."

"I'll negotiate a trade. We'll swap secrets."

Em glanced at the door and kept her voice low. "You told me that Cora and Gander were in a stalemate because they both had dirt on each other. If you break the stalemate, you'll lose your leverage over her. She'll have no reason to keep quiet about whatever she knows. What if something gets out that affects not us but our older selves? What about Henry? They're the ones who are going to have to live with it."

Ri couldn't ignore the feeling inside that nagged at her to not let this chance go. "Please, Em. I need to know the truth."

Em nodded but there was a flicker of disappointment on her face. She would go along with it for Ri's sake though she must have disagreed that secrets of long-dead ancestors were worth sacrificing for. They both knew well enough by now that the future was inevitable, Ri would be married to the King and have to endure everything associated with that. It was less certain as to whether it would be helpful to know more details about what they couldn't prevent.

The sounds of someone yelling "Go to bed this instant, Ethan!" and then someone else stomping up the stairs signaled that this their last chance. If they were going to escape now was the time. Em shot a look as if to check whether Ri was going to change her mind at the last second.

They heard Gander coming back so Ri sprang up to grab Em's glasses off the doily on the wooden bureau so she could stuff them into the pocket her girlfriend's hoodie.

Ri held Em's gaze, promising with her eyes that everything would be ok. In return Em's smile was nervous but she took her seat again, trusting her implicitly. When Gander came back Ri wasn't sitting on the floor, she was standing with her arms crossed ready for whatever was going to happen.

"Mrs Gander," Ri smiled. "It seems we both have information the other wants. I'm offering to break the stalemate… on one condition."


	59. Gooseflesh

_21 Tremont St_

Ri was explaining her terms to Mrs Gander in the hopes that she could end both the long years of secrecy and Em's hostage situation tonight. "We negotiate the cessation of the stalemate and exchange secrets. That's the deal. Your secrets for mine. On the condition that neither of us uses the information against the other."

"How is that the  _end_  of the stalemate?" muttered Em tiredly from her place in the hard-backed chair. The other two didn't seem to notice her comment. Apparently Ri still hadn't learned to be a true badass yet.

"I don't need to negotiate," said Gander, untempted by the offer. "Not when I already hold you hostage. I will not be held to ransom by Cora Mills any longer. Hand over whatever evidence of my family's indiscretions you have inherited. I want what's mine."

"Or what?"

"I will expose your family of its ghastly secrets. I will show the world who you really are, Regina Mills."

Ri rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure they all know by now."

"I can make life very hard for you, now and in the future. Do you think the voters of Storybrooke will voluntarily elect the Evil Queen? After what you did to them, I doubt it. You personally victimised every single citizen in town with the curse. As if that weren't enough, the corruption in office and the depraved dalliances with  _both_  Sheriffs while you were Mayor make you an unsuitable candidate. We need someone who is family-oriented."

"Sheriff _s_?" said Ri, confused by the reference she didn't understand. "I don't know what you're talking about. I love Emma Swan and no-one else. What would you gain from telling such lies? Perhaps you're deluded."

"Indeed I am not. It seems you are your Mother's daughter, completely unable to admit your own failings."

Ri was swift in changing the topic back to what she really wanted to know. "Speaking of my mother, what do you know of her past?"

Gander chuckled unkindly and shook her head. "Oh, the things I could tell you..."

"Then tell me! Seriously, I want to know." Ri held out empty palms and waited a beat for extra obnoxiousness.

When there was no answer, the teen began to suspect that her family's nemesis had been boasting of her knowledge without any intention or ability to reveal it.

"Mrs Gander," warned Ri, emphasizing each syllable. "You said that I'm no longer a princess, tell me why. What happened when my father, Prince Henry, lost his title? I was three. All I remember is that people were angry and afraid around that time. If it was a scandal then everyone must have known about it. I know you know. Tell me!"

"I can't. Cora would -" The elderly woman cut herself off and glanced away.

The school principal seemed uncomfortable talking about what Cora would or would not have thought or did if she found out her nemesis was spreading rumours about her. But Cora was dead now, what harm could she possibly do? She had been a powerful sorceress yes, but surely not powerful enough to continue her grudges after her death? Mrs Gander looked like that was exactly what she expected.

Ri realised with shock that she had the upper hand and began to delight in it. "You're still afraid of her aren't you! I need to know why my mother is forcing me to marry Royalty. Does she want to rule the kingdom through me?"

"Think for yourself, girl!" Gander snapped, the agitation was obviously getting to her. "You're asking the wrong question. The Royal family doesn't actually rule the Kingdom. They merely sit on the throne and make public appearances. Haven't you ever wondered who is ruling over  _them_?"

"I don't understand."

"Surely your history education included the portraits of the Royal families. Can you remember who is depicted as the constant companion of the Kings?"

Ri thought back to the many hours she had spent with her tutors studying history and tried to picture the artworks in her mind. In each portrait of the Royals one of the high-ranking Fairies appeared in an innocuous background position. Always present but not immediately noticeable. She'd seen her own father's portrait as a young man with the Mills Family patron many times. What did it mean?

"There's always a Fairy," said Ri, unsure as to what the elderly woman was getting at. "I was taught that it was symbolic. Royal families have always had patron Fairies to guide them."

Gander snorted. "There's much more to it than that. Fairies are the true evil here, they manipulate our fates according to their own whims. They have the power to give us all riches and beauty with the flick of a wand. Yet they sprinkle wishes here and there … and only to those persons having a drop of Royal blood. As if that delineates the deserving from the undeserving! The price of that magic gives the Fairies the power to influence Royal decisions according to their own politics."

"I refuse to believe that Astrid would ever do that. She's our friend."

"She works for  _her_. Not one of them can be trusted whilst ever they are led by that Blue Fairy, the so-called Mother Superior as she titles herself now. She has her own agenda and will seek to influence the one who eventually takes the throne. You ought to sever all connections with her, with all Fairies. Turn your back on the path of magic, it will only lead you astray. Take us back to the old ways."

_I can't give up magic!_ thought Ri as Gander continued to put foreward her case.  _It's the only way to ensure that Henry will exist and have a safe life in future Storybrooke_.  _Besides, what else could there be but Royal rule over the Kingdom back home? If not me it will be someone else. Without magic and structure the realm will fall into anarchy, that was the reality of the "old ways"._

_I've always loved reading about Royalty. People looked up to King Leopold and Queen Ava for leadership and protection. Their goodness was known far and wide, as was the True Love that brought them together. In Henry's storybook the people looked up to Snow and her Prince too. Perhaps one day in the future they will feel the same about Em and I? … Emma and Regina, the Saviour and the Evil Queen, the Sheriff and the Mayor._

_If only Em and I had been born and met in the same time and place! We could have ruled together fairly and justly, balancing each other out. Everyone would know the story of our True Love._

_But that isn't the way it happened, it's not the way it is happening and it never will unless we make it happen. We are lucky to have met at all. Magic brought us together..._

The future was rattling towards them at breakneck pace and Ri knew which path the next phase of her young life would have to take. The only way for her son to have both of his mothers in his life was for her to follow the Evil Queen's path. The only way for her to be reunited with Em was to cast the dark curse. She was convinced she had no other choice.

"I can't," Ri decided. "Magic is a part of our lives, as much as love is. I need it to get what I want. It's the only way to ensure that Storybrooke continues to exist. I have to do this."

"I see." Gander said, with barely suppressed fury. She fixed her beady eyes on Em before returning to Ri. "Then I must act."

"What are you going to do. Keep us here forever?"

"I will ruin you and everyone you associate with. It remains to be seen as to whether Regina Mills and Sheriff Swan can remain together when all of their family and friends are being punished because of them. Starting with that Meadows girl, Jessica. I've lost my granddaughter forever because of you and people like her. It's disgusting. Trying to encourage innocent girls into that… that  _depravity_. Others must not be allowed to follow your example. It is against everything the Enchanted Forest stood for. There are no happy endings for people like you."

Em scoffed, drawing their attention. "Are you really peddling this homophobic bullshit? You're old. The world's changing. Get over it."

"It isn't natural," hissed the Goose.

"Neither are cars and pastarised milk," quipped Em.

Ri creased an eyebrow and corrected her in a fond way. "It's 'pasteurised', dear. It says so on the carton."

"Hey," Em retorted. "I'm the one who went to school in this century."

Mrs Gander looked down her nose at the blonde teen. "Obviously your school was of doubtful quality, Miss Swan, judging by your intellect. One wonders how disadvantaged Henry Mills's education would have been had he remained in your care. Let us hope that Nurture has triumphed over Nature for once."

Em's mouth fell open without a sound but the pain showed in her eyes. It took only a second for her to go from teasing Ri to being made to feel worthless. She was not long from away from having to give up her baby and had been tormented by knowledge of her life's most difficult decision ever since she'd learned of it. Gander obviously knew the circumstances of Henry's birth and was willing to twist the knife into that wound.

"Don't you dare speak to her like that!" said Ri. As angry as she was to be called disgusting over her feelings it was nothing to the anger she felt over someone actually hurting Em. "You know nothing about it."

"I know that a child born of a teenage mother is exposed to numerous health risks and negative outcomes for social development. Especially if the mother is poor and uneducated herself. It is better for the child to be taken away to a real family."

Em was trying not to cry now, forcing her chin not to tremble. Tears were close to her surface these days. "B-but I'm his… I love him."

"Love?" sneered Gander. "That will be of great comfort I'm sure when you are a working two mediocre jobs and your child, who you hardly ever see, is going to school hungry. If you care for him at all you will remove your own influence upon him. Henry was such an obedient pupil before you came back into his life."

Ri was aghast. "How can you talk that way about love? As if it means nothing?"

"Because I see the evidence before me. I know this wasn't your idea, Miss Mills. You were brought up too well. You've been corrupted by this teenage delinquent."

"Meeting Em is the best thing that ever happened to me!"

Gander's smile twisted cruelly. "Would you say that if your mother was here?"

Ri could feel Em's eyes on her waiting for her to speak up in defense of their love. The hypothetical just raised would be her biggest test: if her mother knew about her love for the other girl, a poor orphan from a strange world, what would Ri say to her? Would she be brave enough to insist that Cora take her seriously for once in knowing her own mind and heart? Ri's life had always been under the tight control of her mother but being with Em had given her the resolve to break out and live her own life.

"I'd tell Mother..." Ri raised her chin. "That I love Em and I want to be with her. Nothing will keep us apart. Not even time itself. I know it's not the life my Mother wants for me but I'd be strong and stand my ground no matter what she said. It's what will make me happy."

"That's exactly what you did say," said Gander. "Right before Cora ripped the heart out of your first love and crushed it in front of you."

"No. You're lying!" Ri told herself that there was too much horror in it to be true.

_It must be a lie!_   _Why would she do that?! Mother would never hurt me._

_She's strict and impossible to talk to sometimes but she would understand if I explained it to her. In her heart she wants me to find happiness, she's only mistaken about what will make me happy. If Mother knew how happy being with Em has already made me she'd support us and our family._

_She wouldn't hurt someone I loved! Mother wouldn't go that far to ensure my future crown, surely not. She would never kill anyone over it._

Then Ri began to remember what she'd read in the book about herself and the pain she'd seen in Regina's eyes. At first she struggled to account for what could have happened to cause that darkness. Could it truly have been what Mrs Gander said? Then memories of little things came to her now, events that seemed minor and inconsequential on their own but together they added up to a larger picture she had never seen before. Cora was a powerful sorceress and an iron-clad will. There were rumours about people disappearing… staff who worked the estate and were never seen again, Ri's nannies who were replaced so often that as a child she was left wondering if she had been too bad for them to want to stay...

Was her mother capable of doing such terrible things as was said? Was she determined enough in her ambitions to kill for them?

_People say I'm just like her... and I'm going to be the Evil Queen soon. What would I do in the name of revenge?_

_I have no idea know what I'm capable of._

_What if anything ever happened to Em? Could I devote her life to avenging the loss of her first love - the way the stories say I did?_

_Yes, in a heartbeat. I could never forgive anyone for hurting Emma Swan, the love of my life. If I ever lost her..._

Em's warning voice cut through her thoughts. She reached out to hold the other teen's upper arm. "Ri. Be strong."

Ri glared at Gander, hating her for putting these thoughts into her head. Em was right and it steeled her resolve. "I'm nothing like her."

"You are exactly like her," said Mrs Gander. "In fact, you are worse. Because you, unlike her, know the feeling of pain and yet you still inflict it upon others."

The school was principal lunged faster than anyone could have predicted for such an old goose. She grabbed the seat of the chair Em was sitting on and tipped it backwards with all the force of her. Em lost her balance and fell backwards on the floor.

"What are you doing?!" Ri yelled in shock. "Don't hurt her." It took a few seconds for her body to recognise the need for action before she rushed towards them.

Gander stepped back to admire her handwork while Ri crouched next to Em checking her over and trying to see if she was hurt. The blonde had landed hard but she didn't appear to be hurt. She seemed like she was more freaked out by the actions of the crazy old woman and fed up with the way this night had turned out. Ri was focused on Em and it was only when she realised that her girlfriend was ok that she questioned what on earth the point was of Mrs Gander attacked her like that. Even if she was doing it to prove a point.

Em muttered. "Crazy old biddy. What the hell was the point of that."

"You could have hurt her!" Ri accused their kidnapper.

Gander retorted. "Not as much as you will."

"I would never hurt someone I love. I'm not a monster! I'm not like Cora and I'm not like you."

"You killed Cora because she annoyed you on your wedding day. You killed your father because he wanted you to not cast the curse. You tried over and over again to kill Snow White and her family and supporters. You killed thousands of innocent people including children. How do you to justify that?"

Ri swallowed like she was going to be sick. "Th- that wasn't me. The woman who did those things. I'm not her. Not yet."

"You don't know who you are. You even killed your son."

"What?" Ri gasped and closed her eyes tight at the suggestion willing it to disappear from her mind. She thought she could hear Em talking to her, telling her it was lies and not to believe it, and to remember how much their son loved her. But it wasn't enough. Her fists clenched by her side, they were shaking so hard she was afraid it wouldn't go away.

"It was your own poison that killed Henry," Gander went on. "Your boy was dead on that hospital table until Sheriff Swan saved him. He realised who you truly are, who you will always be. What kind of mother deliberately harms her child?"

_I hurt so many children including my own Henry? Maybe I truly am a monster…_

Em was sitting up on the floor now, unharmed, and she tugged at Ri's dress trying to get her soulless eyes to look at her but it was futile. She was calling Ri's name but it sounded distant, too far away to reach her, as though she were in another time and place altogether.

All Ri could see in front of her was the image of Henry lying pale and deathly still by her own hand. Her son. Her reason for living. Her salvation and hope for the future.

"You don't deserve a family," spat the old woman. "You took mine and now I will take yours."

It was the wrong thing to say.

Ri batted Em's hands away and stood slowly coming face to face with her mother's lifelong nemesis. She realised now that the things Gander was saying were exactly the sort of vitriol she could have heard from her own mother. Cora would never have accepted Em and she would never have allowed Ri to choose the path of her own life. It was up to her to fight for that right.

Ri's expression was cold when she spoke yet regal as her namesake. "You think you know me, Mrs Gander?"

"I know enough."

"Do not mistake me for the timid naive girl who you've seen when visiting my mother at our estate. You've been at war with my ancestors for centuries and persecuted countless others for the use of magic. Your spiteful beliefs drive people into hiding for nothing more than loving someone. Now you've threatened my new family as well. I don't take threats lightly."

Though school principal was too far gone to give up her insults she didn't seem quite so calm any longer as she now recognised a formidable force in Ri and became afraid. "With your dark magic and your so-called lifestyle you are the one who is of most danger to Henry now. Perhaps a call to Social Services to express my concerns for the boy's safety might be in order."

"No-one will ever take my son from me. You've made some grave threats here tonight about the ones I love most. Perhaps I ought to be afraid of you but ...  _I'm not._ "

Without knowing exactly what she was doing, Ri plunged her fist into the old woman's chest to snatch her hateful heart.

* * *

Dawn was breaking by the time Emma finished explaining what had happened to Mr and Mrs Meadows. They were understandably upset that their child had lost her real memories. Thankfully in post-curse Storybrooke the Evil Queen hadn't seen fit to separate the family of one of her most loyal supporters. Jenna didn't notice anything weird about her parents having double lives while she had only one. She didn't even know what she was missing.

"I feel as though I've lost my daughter," Janet Meadows spoke with sorrow. "She's still here, but a part of her isn't."

"What caused this?" asked Jenna's father, a stern strong-looking man named Rochester. "Are our other children in danger as well? Perhaps we could leave Storybrooke for a time."

"No!" Emma said hastily. "That's the worst thing you could do."

Emma continued with a loose explanation of the border problem and tried to reassure them that she was working on a way to fix the town but the words tasted like ash in her mouth. It was yet another reminder of how she was failing at her job as the Sav... She could barely think the S word right now, let alone live up to that mantle.

The worst part was yet to come when Janet showed her out of the house. She smiled at Emma and thanked her for everything she and Regina were doing. These people trusted her and she had all but lied to them, instilling them with a confidence in their "leader" that was nowhere near deserved.

As soon Emma sat down in her patrol car her phone rang and she checked the screen. It was 'Henry's Mom' calling.

"Hey. Everything ok?" The Sheriff stifled a yawn and greeted the caller with a guarded hello. As always she was relieved to hear the voice on the other end, no matter what was being said she craved it. They were still on shaky ground from their latest fight and she had no idea where to even begin to mend their relationship. Maybe Regina had had some time to cool down though. It wouldn't be wise to piss her off when she was already in the mood for lashing out.

Regina ignored the question and got straight to the point. "Have you found Jenna yet?"

"Yeah, I just finished talking with the parents. They're a mess. Poor kid lost her memories. She doesn't remember anything about the Enchanted Forest or wanting to be one of the Queen's Elite Guards when she grows up… none of it. Her cursed self is now her only self."

"How the hell did that happen?! Had she been into the woods?"

"No. But there's more bad news. The border's closing in on the town and soon there'll be more people losing their memories of Fairytale Land. We don't have much time."

"Then you need to come home right away. It's 108 Mifflin Street, in case the word 'home' is meaningless to you."

Emma felt a frisson of worry dart through her. "What's going on? Is Henry ok?"

"Yes, he's fine, asleep," Regina's snippy replies turned sarcastic. "Though perhaps I'm not qualified to make that assessment since I'm not a 'real mother'. When you and your experienced uterus get here I'll defer to your superior judgement."

Emma sighed. "Regina, please. I'm sorr-"

"Don't," the icy response came. "You don't get to apologise. You don't get to assuage your guilt. Just get here, Sheriff. Now."

"What's the rush? Besides the obvious."

"I managed to brew the potion successfully."

Finally! There was some good news and Emma was glad to take whatever was available and cling to it. It was a welcome surprise since the last thing she'd seen was a frustrated Regina declaring that it couldn't be done.

"You finished it already?" said Emma. "That's awesome! We can fix the town's magic and bring back the lost memories by tomorrow. After we make the potion work everything will go back to normal."

"Yes."  _Hopefully_ , was the underlying message in Regina's guarded tone.

"So all we have to do is kiss to activate the potion?" said Emma. "We drop it into the well… and then all will be well again. Pun intended. Just in time for the weekend, which I am really looking forward to all of a sudden. We just have to kiss. Before anything else goes wrong."

"It has to be True Love's kiss-" Regina sounded hesitant.

"I'm on my way." Emma smiled and as she turned the key in the ignition the Bug's engine rumbled to life.


	60. Swan decoy

_108 Mifflin St_

The house was dead quiet when Emma entered. She took care to not clatter her car keys or drop her boots for fear of waking Henry. The microwave clock testified that it was late, long past midnight. There was no indication that anyone else was still up and the only light was coming from the master bedroom upstairs. Regina had called less than ten minutes ago… where was she?

When Emma padded into the bedroom any resentment in her melted at the sight before her. Regina had fallen asleep with her phone in her hand. She was still sitting on the floor leaning her head against the foot of the bed. The brunette was dressed only in a pair of silk shorts and a flannel shirt that did not belong to her. For someone who thought such clothing entirely unsuitable to leave the house in Regina had quite the habit of appropriating Emma's flannels for her own use at home.

_Thief._ A smile tugged at the corner of Emma's mouth. It sparked the memory of the first of many times she had seen that outfit on someone other than herself:

_"_ _This is a hideous shirt, dear," Regina teased as she slipped her arms through the flannel sleeves. "If it wasn't so comfortable I'd tell you to burn it."_

_The Sheriff was getting ready to go out, reluctantly leaving the bed and the woman in it. It had been Regina's idea to 'snuggle' early this evening and Emma knew what was behind the shirt comment. "You only wear that when I'm going out on night shift. You just can't let me go can you? I think you like imagining my arms around you."_

_"_ _Your shirt is the next best thing." Regina confessed in a rare moment in which she let her attachment show. They hadn't been together long enough for the constant desire for each other's proximity to fade, if it ever would._

_"_ _Well, you look extremely sexy wearing it. Night, gorgeous." Emma smirked and blew a kiss on her way out the door._

_Leaving was becoming increasingly difficult for her, even when life and responsibilities demanded it. Whenever they were apart she was wildly impatient to see her again. Anything that took her away felt like an annoying interruption that had to be tolerated. Coming home from work each day or night to Regina was exactly that - coming home. It had taken her a long time to recognise that was what she was feeling though._

Emma felt her heart swell with love. Regina had been snippy on the phone, obviously still affected by their fight but there was no evidence of it in her expression right now. She was wearing Emma's shirt, the very one she claimed ownership of whenever she wanted to feel close to her. There was no way it meant nothing. However difficult things were right now, Regina still wanted her wrapped around her body in the form of flannel cloth.

They needed to talk, they needed to activate the potion and plan the next move. But Emma was exhausted and her apparent True Love was already asleep. She never could bear to wake Regina whenever she happened to be sleeping peacefully after being witness to quite a few of her rougher nights. So she lifted the petite frame into her arms and carried her the short distance to place her in bed.

_The potion can wait until morning. What difference could a few hours make?_

Rationalising her procrastination as she stripped her clothes was the last thing Emma remembered before collapsing in bed.

* * *

The girls were running away from what had happened at Tremont Street tonight. Em was exhausted and she had no idea what the hell had happened with the Goose back at the creepy house. Ri was leading and turning her head back every minute or so to make sure that Em was still following her.

They were almost at Main Street now, far enough away that they were in the clear. It was dark but for the soft glow of streetlight and the howling wind covered the sound of their footsteps. The storm overheard rumbled, its fury put on hold. There was no-one else around at this hour.

Em was nearly ready to collapse and almost did when she came to a stop. She grabbed Ri's arm by the elbow and whirled her around. "W-huh-" she gasped. "What the hell were you doing, Regina?"

Ri frowned. "You're complaining about how I save your life?"

"My life wasn't even in danger! How did you do that creepy horror-movie thing with your hand? It looked like you wanted to rip her guts out. What would you have done if I hadn't been there to stop you?"

"You know what I would have done." The other teen's bravado had all but evaporated in an instant. Her hands were still shaking and it wasn't because of the cold. She couldn't meet Em's eyes but it didn't matter because Em had already seen who she'd become tonight. Her throat burned from suppressing the urge to cry. Evil doesn't cry because it's just realised it's evil.

"Oh god," Em begged. "Please, no."

"What?!" Ri said defensively. "She threatened me. You. Our  _son_! Did you not hear the things she said about us? What was I supposed to do."

"She was talking shit to goad you, to try to blackmail you for the information about her family secrets. Gander's nothing more than a mean old bigot. She wasn't really going to hurt us. It was a bluff."

"And you know this how? All threats must be taken seriously. Naive Royals become dead Royals. You know nothing about the history involved here. I was only trying to protect you."

"That doesn't mean you can go around hurting people before they even do anything! It's not right. You're supposed to find another way."

"Like you did? You put our baby's life at risk attacking Mrs Gander like that. This isn't the first time either, I know about the dodgeball game at school. Henry told me. That was dangerous. But not as incredibly stupid as what you did just now. You used something magical without knowing anything about where it came from or what it's powers were."

"I had to do something!" argued Em.

_Earlier..._

_Lucy Gander's face was contorted with pain as she was backed up against the wall by a petite teenager who pinned her there with one hand. The girl's right hand was sunk to the wrist in the school principal's chest clenching around her wildly beating heart. It wasn't physically possible! Not in a world without magic…_

_Em couldn't believe what she was seeing was real, despite her bad eyesight she was close enough to see that the old lady was in grave danger. Gander had pushed Ri way too far, digging her fingernails into the wounds in the young girl's psyche. Now Ri was pushing back. There was only so much anyone could take before they snapped._

_"_ _Ri!" she called to her several times, begging her to stop, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. There had to be some way to get through to her. What could she do? Her own magic had abandoned her, how could she distract Ri from the Evil Queen's magic without it?_

_Em foraged around in her hoodie pocket for her glasses._

_Then she felt it. There was a small hard object in her hoodie pocket, the very one she'd stolen from Regina's vault last night. It was a stone about the size of a bottlecap but it was perfectly smooth and had no markings. She had no idea what it was of course but it looked cool and Em still had the habit of touching or pilfering items that caught her interest. Though there was no reason for believing it to be anything other than an ordinary beach stone she'd pocketed it._

_Without knowing what she was doing Em now pulled back her arm and threw the little stone to the floor with all her might. It skipped across the stonework towards Ri and Gander's feet._

_The impact created a thunderous BANG! that rattled the walls as if produced by an object far more massive. It sounded like close range gunshots and a white translucent water bird rose out of a cloud of mist. Ri was distracted into pulling away and the Goose collapsed to the ground cowering in fear at the sight of the ghostly swan._

_"_ _Ri! Let's go!" Em yelled and took advantage of Ri's momentary confusion. She grabbed her and pushed her out the door, instructing her to run. This second chance to escape would not go to waste._

_The last thing Em saw when she glanced back was Gander clutching at her chest. The school principal appeared to be uninjured… she looked for all the world like a harmless, frightened, little old lady now. How the hell had the night gotten so out of hand?_

Em snapped out of her daze to realised that Ri was lecturing her again. "Where did you get a Transmuted Pebble. They're very rare. You can't imagine how dangerous it is to carry one on your person. And in your condition! How could you."

"Huh?" said Em. "What's a-"

"Transmuted Pebble," Ri repeated. "They're magic stones in my world. Though small they strike with great force. TPs can be destructive weapons if the wielder so chooses, they detect intention. Thoughts can be dangerous."

"I found it in Regina's vault. But I didn't want to hurt anyone with it, I just wanted a distraction. Like that Patronus thingy. That's all I was thinking."

"That choice may well have saved all of our lives tonight. You can not be careless with your safety anymore. You should've let me handle it."

Em sighed. "I'm fine, ok? Baby Henry is fine too. I'm not a complete idiot."

"Em Swan, you are with child," said Ri, sounding for all the world just like a certain town Mayor. "It's time to be responsible. You can't take risks with our future. This is  _Henry_  we're talking about. You don't know what could have happened or what effect it might have on our lives later. Where I come from children die everyday before they even take their first breath of life."

"It's not like that in the real world, not these days. Henry is an eleven-year-old kid here, that means he must have been born safely. Nothing is going to happen to him. He's not going to disappear. You said it yourself: everything happening now must already be part of our pasts."

Ri argued back. "I was baiting Mother Goose when I said that. It doesn't mean that we don't have to act, that we can sit back and let things happen. We still have to do whatever it takes to ensure that Henry comes into the world safely."

"'Whatever it takes?'" echoed Em. "Like you did? Are you upping the timetable on going dark for instance? Is that what you mean?"

"Maybe I do."

"I don't know if I can do it," Em shook her head, looking devastated. The nausea churning in her stomach was nothing to do with morning sickness. "I can't stand by and watch you turn evil. I can't do nothing but also I don't want to see you go through that kinda pain."

_Then don't look._  Ri shifted her gaze away toward the empty street. "But you said nothing could change how you feel about me."

"I'll never stop loving you. I trust you with my life. But it does change whether or not I'll trust you with my kid. You gotta be better than this. You have to be the Mom that Henry deserves. I know you can be, but I won't always be there to help you. Please try. Don't let the darkness win. In the end you have to do the right thing. It'll never be too late."

Ri didn't answer.

"Alright." Em sighed, resigned to what she knew of Ri's future as Queen. "Do what you have to do, I don't wanna know. But you let yourself get manipulated tonight, just like you do with your mother and creepy Mr Gold. Why, Ri? You nearly hurt someone out of anger. No matter how much she may have deserved it. We could get in big trouble if Gander reports it."

"Since when do you care about that? You're starting to remind me of Little Goody Two Shoes and l can personally vouch for her being more annoying than she sounds."

Em resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Whatever. I've heard enough about Regina's past to know what's coming up for you. But I will  _not_  let a sociopath take care of my son. Once you have Henry you have to do what's best for him, ok? You have to give up the Evil Queen routine. Or I'll come find you and take him back. We'll go somewhere safe, far away from all this fairytale nonsense. Are you hearing me?"

"Yes!" Ri snapped. "I know that I have to change. I'll do anything for my son. Anything."

"Make sure you're ready then, because I'm not. I'm still just an idiot teenager like everyone says."

"People are going to tell you that your whole life if you let them. The least you can do is stop calling yourself an idiot. Unless you  _like_  living up to it and absolving yourself of the responsibility to grow up?"

Em glared. "I'm doing my best, alright?"

"As am I."

The teenagers were too stubborn to argue any longer so they walked in silence the rest of the way. They had headed for Main St since Mary Margaret's loft was the closest place to crash. If they'd known that it would be their last chance to talk for a long time then they might have used the time much better. But both girls were angry at each other and scared for their child, each thinking that only she knew best how to protect him.

They were both right and yet they were both wrong.

It is said that in a relationship you should not let the sun go down on an argument lest the fight breed resentment and grow with time. For Em and Ri - or rather, Emma and Regina - this was the beginning of a fight upon which many suns would set, a fight that lasted decades and crossed both of their worlds.

It was dormant while they were apart but as soon as they met again on the doorstep of a Storybrooke mansion in 2011 the spark between them reignited and the fight was instantly back on.

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment, just before dawn_

"Are the girls asleep now?" Mary Margaret mumbled from underneath the covers.

David slid into bed beside his wife and stifled a yawn. "Let's hope so. For a few more hours yet. Em crashed the second her head hit the pillow."

"Why would Em and Ri come here at this hour?"

The knock on the door fifteen minutes earlier had woken them both with a start. It was a strange time for anyone to turn up let alone their teenage daughter and her girlfriend who, as far as anyone knew, ought to have been sleeping over at Mifflin Street. Em was obviously dead on her feet and Ri was wearing a party dress and a frown for some reason, but otherwise they seemed fine - though perhaps a bit quiet with each other.

David and Mary Margaret were so relieved to see them safe that they offered the spare bedroom without demanding an explanation. The grilling and groundings could wait until morning. Nothing could quell the maternal instinct to worry for Mary Margaret though. She posed a series of questions without waiting for answers.

"Where do you think they've been all night? Do Emma and Regina know what they're about? Why wouldn't the girls go back to Regina's house."

"I'm not sure I want to know." David closed his eyes sleepily.

"Emma was right all along - keeping those two girls under the one roof is like herding cats. I'd better send a message to let her know where they are."

Her phone rang just as Mary Margaret went to pick it up. She nearly knocked the device off the nightstand but managed to grab it first. The schoolteacher checked the display (which showed a very undesirable name) and kicked herself for being too cautious to ignore the call. Just in case. The ringtone cut off abruptly as she tapped Answer.

"Why do you still have my number?" she demanded of the caller without preamble.

A smooth-voiced man replied with an audible smirk. "Why do you still have mine? If you deleted my number how did you know it was me?"

"What do you want, Dr Whale?" Mary Margaret tried to sound as hoity-toity as possible. She glanced at her husband lying in bed, he'd fallen back to sleep already. Thank god.

"I want to know what's going on. I've been trying to contact the Sheriff's Office but I'm getting no answer. I need to speak to Emma."

"Is it important?"

"I'd hardly be calling if it wasn't. I've just come off night shift at the hospital. There's only one thing I'd rather be doing other than sleeping right now. That's why I called you."

Mary Margaret gaped in astonishment at his brazen proposition. "What?!" she squeaked. "I'm - I'm married!"

"Apparently that doesn't always matter. Relax." Whale quipped and then became serious. "I know something's wrong in Storybrooke, all night I've been dealing with patients presenting with a strange form of selective amnesia. Only their fairytale memories are lost. I thought the Sheriff should be looking into it. Isn't she your roommate?"

"She is - I mean, was my roommate. She's my daughter. That is, the Sheriff is aware of the problem but she's not here. Emma moved out some time ago. I suggest you try her cell later in the morning."

After a pause, Whale switched tack and asked something that came out of nowhere. "Is Em there by any chance?"

"I already told you," said Mary Margaret with some impatience. "Emma isn't here."

"I meant the younger one, Em."

A jolt of fear for her child raced through her. Mary Margaret kept her tone neutral. "I have no idea who you're talking about."

"The younger Emma. She came to the hospital not long ago with a possible concussion from a minor car accident. Of course I recognised her and by her age it was immediately obvious that she wasn't the Sheriff. She gave her name as Em S."

Mary Margaret hissed. "What! She was hurt and nobody told me? I'm her mother and she's a minor. Why wasn't I informed?"

"She said she was 18 and did not give her full name. I examined her, she was fine so I discharged her with instructions to rest. I shouldn't be telling you now but … I thought I'd check to see if she's well. Anyway, the reason I called is that I think Em has gotten herself into some trouble."

_Oh God, what now?_ Dread sank in Mary Margaret's belly. She wracked her brain over all of the mischief that'd happened since the girls came to Storybrooke. What if there was something she didn't even know about? Em was expert at pulling the wool over her mother's eyes. Even knowing the older version of her daughter for far longer hadn't improved her ability to see through it, the only times Mary Margaret ever got past Emma's walls was when she was allowed past them.

_Am I ever going to understand my daughter? She won't even tell me when she's hurt, not if she thinks I'll react badly._

"If it's about the car accident, Dr Whale," said Mary Margaret. "I can assure you that my daughter will not be behind the wheel of a car again anytime soon. I will have a talk with her about road safety and responsibility."

"No, that's not the problem," said Whale. "You know Lucy Gander, Principal of Storybrooke Elementary?"

"Yes, of course. She signs my paychecks."

"She was admitted with cardiac arrhythmia this morning. Apparently she was attacked in her home tonight when she interrupted a thief. Old Gander was lucid enough upon admission to give a statement in which she named the teenager who broke into her house."

"That's awful," Mary Margaret said, and was then confused. "But why are you telling me?"

"I'm warning you." Dr Whale was dead serious. "You need to know because sometime this morning it's likely that your daughter, Em, is going to be arrested. It looks like history is repeating itself. If she is innocent this time she needs to get her story straight. Fast."


	61. Enjoy my shirt

The next day Emma felt herself waking up face down and loathed it. She was still tired and her eyelids were so heavy she couldn't bear exposing her eyes to any light. Her body was far too warm and comfortable to bother moving. She inhaled deeply and stretched out her arms underneath her pillow. The feel of the sheets on her bare skin and their familiar scent confirmed that she was at home, laid out in what she still called 'Regina's bed' in her mind.

Her brain was slowly coming to terms with the concept of morning. She rubbed a hand over her face and opened her eyes, blinking away the blurriness. Regina was next to her, sitting up in bed with her legs steepled and staring like she was deep in thought. She must not have been awake long as she was still wearing the borrowed flannel and her hair was still mussed from sleep instead of its usual professional appearance.

A bundle of papers rested on the other nightstand. Regina must've been working on her election campaign or preparing for one of her many public appearances and speeches.

"Hey," Emma mumbled, voice husky from sleep and being outside in the cold earlier.

"Hey." Regina's answer was monotone, almost nonchalant. It was difficult to tell whether she was being sarcastic or not. Emma's own anger had dissipated over night, she'd had time to think and calm down. She always had to be the first one ready to mend things after a fight, which was frustrating, but all she wanted now was to make things right again.

"Are you ok?" There was no reply so she tried again. "R'gina?"

"What." Another flat answer.

"Did you manage to get some sleep? You were up half the night."

Regina threw the volley straight back. "So were you. I didn't hear you come in, Sheriff, what time did you return?"

"A few hours ago, not long after you called me. You were asleep when I got home. Didn't want to wake you so I put you to bed."

An image of an ultimatum in the doorway came to Emma's mind. Together with being called by her title rather than her first name, it sounded like a polite invitation to 'get the fuck out of my bed and/or life'. The confusing part was that Regina was certainly no wallflower. If she didn't want her here the former queen would waste no time making her displeasure known. Usually.

"Um, do you want me to go?" said Emma. "To the spare room, or to Granny's. Or off a cliff maybe?"

"No. Why would I want that?" Regina's comment was apparently rhetorical but she provided no further explanation.

The thoughts completed themselves in Emma's mind:  _Because I left and you told me not to bother coming back? Or maybe because we had a huge fight - arguably the worst we've ever had - and now you're wondering what the hell we're doing together? Because it kills me to think of you being hurt and I was the one who hurt you this time?_

_I promised Henry I wouldn't leave, no matter what I found out about him. Now I find out that not only has he got magic, he IS magic. Everybody thinks their own child is special, some are even conceived out of love… but our son might be more special than I ever could have imagined._

_If that's true it means Regina and I are True Loves. Soulmates. What does that mean for us? What does it mean for Henry?_

Emma was very confused and the short answers were putting her off. It was disconcerting to realise that she would've preferred to face the former Evil Queen's wrath than this strange passive aggressive version of Regina. Subtly wasn't Regina's style. It was making her stomach feel tight from the tension of not knowing if she was about to be kissed or killed.

"Are we okay?" ventured Emma.

All Regina said was a simple: "Yes."

The Sheriff inhaled a deep breath and then sighed, rolling over so that her face went into the pillow. Only silence followed so she closed her eyes and went back to dozing. She was so tired and decided not to get out of bed unless there were going to be fireballs in her near future. If Regina wasn't going to talk there was no point trying to make her. Stubborn woman.

After a while she felt the bed shift then heard the rustle of the sheets. It felt and sounded like Regina moving to drape herself over her in order to reach something in the top drawer of the bedside table on Emma's side. That was odd because the only things in that drawer were adult toys (most items in duplicate since their preferences - like them - didn't agree on anything) and lotions, which admittedly should have been better hidden in case Henry came across them.

Emma snap-froze wide awake when she felt herself being touched gently.

Regina had brushed her long blonde hair out of the way and was stroking her sides gently as she started placing a series of kisses high on Emma's bare back. It felt very familiar. The trace of her lips said she wanted something more adventurous than a physical release. A sensual renewal of their connection.

Her eyes widened when Regina dropped a certain item from The Drawer onto the bed right in her line of sight. Not the usual addition to their activities either, this was  _hers_ , which came as a surprise.

"I suppose you may have a turn," was all the other woman said.

"Wait, what?" Emma twisted her neck trying to face her. Unfortunately she had to lift her upper body off the bed to do so and all that did was encourage two palms to migrate around to her chest. Of course her body betrayed her and her nipples hardened in response. She managed to roll over and Regina took it for encouragement when arms automatically sought to embrace her.

"What are you doing," asked Emma warily.

"Shh. We're making up." Regina whispered as she hovered over to kiss her under the jawline.

"The hell we are. Not yet."

"Aren't you supposed to be some sort of hero? In case you've forgotten we need to do whatever it takes to save the town. The potion requires True Love's kiss. It's not like you to turn down sex."

"But you're still pissed at me!" Emma spluttered, raising her upper body on her elbows. "Aren't you? I heard it in your voice over the phone. I'm not going to do this thinking that you're angry with me. We need to talk."

"I'm not angry anymore. I forgive you for the asinine things you said. I'm fine."

"You're lying."

An icy glare of annoyance flickered over Regina's face as she pushed herself up and rolled away onto her back. She must have realised that Emma was too stubborn not to argue and too chivalrous to go along with the pretense, unwilling to compromise their relationship even for a noble cause. Their fight had not been one-sided but Emma felt that the guilt was more on her side, she had freaked out first and had been the one to walk out after all. Technically she hadn't really left but Regina hadn't known that at the time. Rejecting her again now was akin to playing with fire.

They were still staring at the ceiling lying side-by-side minutes later until the awkward silence became so heavy it was unbearable.

"Please," Emma softened her tone. "Can we talk?"

"Fine. You start."

"I'm sorry. I know you said not to apologise just to stop feeling guilty but that's not why I'm doing this. I said some shitty things to you last night. I was angry. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I still think you don't get how I feel though. About Henry and the thing with Em. If she really is pregnant… I can't deal with it right now. It doesn't matter what you or I think happened. It's different for me than it is for you."

Regina turned her head just enough to express her side-eyed disbelief. "Was that supposed to be an apology? Because after 'I'm sorry' it went rather downhill."

Emma paused and braced herself. Her second attempt was better despite the fact that she struggled with articulating out loud what she'd discovered some time ago in her heart. "Most of all I'm sorry I told you that you weren't a real mother. I hate myself for it. I don't even know why I said it because that's not what I think. At all. You know we're together on this, we're raising Henry together as his parents. We're a team. Please, tell me you know that?"

"You were right yesterday." Regina's flannel-clad shoulders lifted to form a tiny shrug before she crossed her arms. "The truth is I  _don't_  know what it's like to conceive and birth a child. I never will. So yes, in that sense I'm not a 'real' mother, whatever the hell that means."

"That doesn't-"

Regina cut her off with a sharp look, her eyes were full. "But you don't know what it's like for me either, Emma. You have never had to convince the world that you are in fact Henry's mother. It was accepted from the day you showed up in Storybrooke even though you'd only known him for a few hours. You want to know why I was so defensive when we first met? I've had ten  _years_  of people asking me what happened to his 'real' mother and how I can possibly love a child I never gave birth to and whether I adopted because I couldn't fall pregnant."

"I can't believe people would say stuff like that to your face. It must've really sucked huh."

"Yes, it was hard. Motherhood has been difficult for you too, I imagine, but in a different way. Despite what you think, I do have some idea of what you must have went through in giving him up. At an age when you were barely more than a child yourself."

"It's not a competition."

"Sometimes it feels like it is. Especially when the whole world would support your claim against mine. Like you said last night, you could take him back whenever you wish."

Emma rolled onto her side and scooted closer. She crooked her elbow on her own pillow so she could lean her head on her hand while she continued making amends for her part in last night's row. A year rolled onto Regina's cheek so she took a chance and swiped it away with her thumb. It rallied her hopes when her hand wasn't swatted away.

"Hey," Emma murmured. "I'm not going to take Henry from you, ok? He'd never want to leave you. You're his Mom. It's what I always wanted for him - to be safe and healthy and loved. He has something with you that I'll never have. You got to raise him and see him grow, you were there for him. Always."

"Ever since I adopted him," Regina began her confession with a sad smile. "I've been afraid that you would change your mind and come back for him and then I'd lose him. I couldn't believe my eyes when the day had finally arrived and you turned up on my doorstep. I knew right away. That he'd wiggle his way into your heart as he did mine. I couldn't stand the thought of losing him to you. But by trying to keep the two of you apart I nearly lost him anyway."

"That's all over now. We were different people then."

They kept talking - about what'd happened that first year and the tension between them that had resulted in a fierce competition over Henry. Originally Emma had had little sympathy for the conniving Mayor and even though she found her incredibly attractive and intriguing, she couldn't get over the woman's inexplicable hatred for her closest friend, Mary Margaret. Not to mention the Sheriff  _knew_  that Regina had been behind the murder plot conspiracy and being helpless to stop it inflamed her anger.

It had all come out into the open by now. As loathe as Regina was to revisit the past or to justify what she'd done to Snow's alter ego, there was a reason the two of them were still part of each others' lives and would continue to be. Whatever other feelings she had about the "two idiots", the former Evil Queen owned her role in keeping them apart and was no longer vexed to see them happy. Especially since it was key to their daughter's sense of family security finally developing. Emma's happiness had skyrocketed in priority for Regina, now that their lives had become so intertwined.

There was one regret Regina would never let go and as she spoke of it, Emma tried hard to push away her own indignation and listen with an open mind. Regina still agonised over memories of trying to convince Henry he was crazy for his fairytale beliefs and cold-shouldering the topic of his birth mother. Despite her extensive list of immoral actions  _this_  was one for which she would never forgive herself. Though perhaps with time and Emma's soft reminders in her ear about moving on and focusing on the future they both might become at peace with it.

Not all of the reminiscing was melancholy however, each of them recounted several occasions where they had found themselves caught staring at the other or thinking less than hateful things. Emma apologised with a teasing smile for deliberately going out of her way to rile the unflappable Mayor at every opportunity. Despite the levity of tone, she was sincere when apologising for driving the wedge deeper between mother and son.

It wasn't long before they were smiling and gazing into each other's eyes, hardly able to resist seeking out and touching that which was no longer far away. They were laying on their sides using the same pillow and facing each other.

Emma grinned. "I see you're still wearing my shirt, you thief. So do you wanna talk about-"

"Enough talking!" Regina let out, exasperated. "I'm done making up. I swear if you do not kiss me right now you will not live long enough to regret it."

Emma licked her lips and fought a groan. She cupped the side of Regina's face and leant in close enough to brush her with the tiniest contact. "Mm I am dying to kiss you. I just want to know one thing first."

"What?" Regina's response was nearly a pained whine.

"Are you really going to let me have a turn?"

* * *

"Oh goddd, yes-yes!" Regina hissed. Her eyes shut tight as she clasped at Emma's free hand in hers.

The bedsheets were soaked already. Owing to the rather athletic exertions that left them both breathing hard and covered in a sheen of sweat. Starting the morning with an extended session of make-up sex had been entirely unintentional. One minute they'd been talking over the recent fight and the next they were a tangle of limbs and locked in a fiery kiss.

Each touch caused a spark in the residual agitation and brought back the adrenaline of the recent fight. They were well-used to getting in each other's faces and arguing, even when they'd first met the challenge of it was arousing. Fierce stares, hands on hips, each woman throwing insults as though daring the other to throw her down and fuck her senseless.

On at least one occasion a fight between them had become physical. Anger was an arousal state that transferred easily to sexual desire, especially when coupled with a competitive edge. These two loved to win. Nerves were live wires from exposing feelings that were formerly well-guarded. Each thump of pulse in vein and bead of sweat that formed on skin rang true of the emotion that flowed through them.

Regina came within minutes of the first press of tongue tasting her then sliding over her with loving laps. Emma took advantage of her post-bliss daze and laid close next to her, teasing her ear with soft breath that accused her of being "easy". The former queen's lips drew a smile, the likes of which few had seen and lived to tell of the warning.

"Do not," growled Regina. "Speak to me in that insolent tone, 'princess'."

Recovered, she flipped the blonde upstart over onto her back with surprising strength and showed her who was  _really_  the easy one.

Emma's laughter was taken away with her breath, leaving her gasping instead. It turned out that she was very ready to be brought off this morning too. After the tremors stopped she grinned from ear to ear and placed a kiss on Regina's smirking lips. It had no effect on the brunette, who continued to wear the gloating expression even when her eyes flashed with the fake offense at the presumption.

Regina reached out to gather the length of Emma's sweaty blonde curls into a twist to keep it out of the way. It was hardly the first time a certain someone's long locks had caused annoyance during their more passionate activities. Once, she had rolled on it and the Sheriff made a noise that was between a yelp and a shriek, which was amusing in and of itself. Occasionally Regina braided it for her before bed, an act of tenderness that left Emma practically mewling with pleasure because it felt so nice as well as intimate.

Right now the hair was an absolute mess of fuzz and tangles that were going to be a nightmare to get out later. It only bothered one of the couple. The one who would be on the receiving end of the inevitable whining and pouting.

"You ready for more?" Emma asked softly when her chuckles died down. She brushed Regina's temple with the back of her knuckles and kissed her again there. Then kissed her cheek, the tip of her nose, and finally her mouth.

"It depends what you're thinking of," said Regina, maintaining her imperious facade. "I'm not sure you can handle more, dear. You look quite done in. I didn't think your legs were that flexible, which is something I'm sure you'll regret tomorrow."

"You know what I mean."

Regina feigned innocence. "Do I?"

"Don't pretend you didn't start this," said Emma. "You are totally into having a threesome. You, me, and Gertrude."

"Mmgh," the other woman made a noise of complaint. "Not if you keep calling it that. Why do they have such terrible names?"

"Hey, don't hurt Gertie's feelings!"

Emma sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. She leaned over the edge to collect the harness Regina had dropped in front of her earlier. This one was her style and fit. She opened The Drawer to retrieve the crucial part - Regina's seldom-used but favourite strapon model despite the unfortunate name - and a small bottle just in case.

Emma was still fidgeting with getting herself ready when she felt Regina move over the mattress and sit behind her. The Mayor traced circles with her palms on her arms and shoulders and left a blazing trail of wet kisses on her spine. Together with the tight material pressing between her legs she was getting aroused again.

She shifted around so that Regina could straddle her lap, knees indenting the mattress either side of Emma's thighs. The authentic beauty of it as the woman she loved lowered herself onto the length, gradually accommodating the intrusion, took her breath away. Her normally steady pulse was replaced by skipping beats and wild flutterings at the thought that Regina was  _hers_  to do this with, that  _she_  was entrusted with the privilege of worshipping this beautiful body. The view was stunning.

Their hips joined flush together. The thrill of being so close to her as to be inside her, filling her with pleasure, and each sound drawn out of her was intoxicating. Emma simply held Regina in her arms and let her control the motion as she desired. The wicked gleam in her coal-dark eyes seemed to want ownership of her soul, which in her arousal-sodden state Emma would've freely handed over.

What had been playful and passionate before was now soft and intense. Regina pulled at her shoulders, a strong hint that she was demanding to be laid down. Emma complied, letting Regina's legs butterfly and settling them both into the new position before pushing inside her again, firmer this time.

Regina moaned as the strokes inside her deepened. She grabbed Emma's ass to keep her close at the end of each thrust. Her skin was humming and tingling all over, and she was acutely aware of every inch of surface contact between them especially between her thighs. Emma's skin blazed with heat and her usually pale cheeks were aflame from her physical efforts.

"Oh," she gasped. "More. Emma."

"Emma."

Absorbed in what she was doing, it took a second for the Sheriff to hear that there was a question in her name. Everything was fine when Regina was using her first name, something she never did during the entire first year they knew each other and she also reverted to doing when they argued. Now, Regina wanted her. She was asking for something without words.

Emma stilled for a minute to catch her breath, giving both their aching muscles a break. She pushed up, straightening her arms, into a hover. Her hair hung like a curtain around her, she at blew few strands that clung to her face and swiped them away.

"Y- you ok?" she panted.

Regina cupped her face and claimed a long kiss. When it ended she shifted out from under her and said, "Turn me over."

"What?" A jolt of alarm followed the request. "No, you completely freaked last time-"

"Emma." There was no arguing with Regina's tone. "Do what I'm asking. I want you to."

The two women moved silently, Emma sat back into a kneeling position and kept her hands on Regina's skin at all times to remind her while she was faced away, only half laying on her front side. Emma was apprehensive about repeating this. As sexy as the idea was to them both when they'd discussed it, Regina hadn't coped well last time they'd tried it or in any orientation where she couldn't see her lover's face, that is, when she couldn't verify the identity of the person who was in a position to wrest control and blindside her.

The last thing Emma wanted to do was hurt her or bring back memories that caused her pain.

For Regina though, this choice to give up control was completely hers and she knew she could stop it at any time without consequences. The risk of triggering memories was the only unsafe part, in this way she could feel unsafe and let the anxiety pass without actually  _being_  unsafe.

"It's me." Emma's voice whispered in her ear just when she needed to hear it. Emma's touch was perfect and her scent was everywhere. There was no confusing her for anyone else, this was the one person who challenged her and loved her and enraged her all at once. The woman who she'd come to believe was her True Love.

Regina loved everything that the Saviour was and stood for, so different a composition to her own dark and brooding self, as infuriating as it was sometimes. Beautiful, strong Emma who tested her patience and bested her resolve to never love again. This was her happy ending, unfolding in front of her. She burned as though on fire, a desperate need for the tension building within her to hit its peak.

Emma's next words were her last conscious thought before her mind went blank, drowning in waves of ecstasy that hit her hard.

"I love you. I've always got your back."

Not for a second had Emma let her concentration waver, the whole time she'd checked for signs of distress in Regina's face or stiffness in her body's responses. But none ever appeared. It awed her, that they had come so far with their relationship. It must've taken complete trust for the former queen to allow herself to be taken this way. Emma couldn't have imagined a more precious gift than that.

It wasn't only hers though - Regina too felt as though all along that she had been given a gift in bits and pieces. Her Saviour had stood by her side, listened and defended her when needed, and now held her as the former queen finally laid to rest the remaining terrors of her youth. Emma helped her to be free.


	62. Strength of will

_108 Mifflin St, 6:21 am_

It was Emma's red leather jacket that undid her during their early morning fun and Regina hadn't been able to get it out of her mind since (while sleeping or awake). Nor did she want to.

Few hours ago she'd been treated to the sight of Sheriff splayed out for her on the bed. Her near-naked body the perfect mix of hard and soft. All she wore was that iconic red leather jacket unzipped. The contrast with the pale expanse of her chest was beautifully tempting. Regina decided then that not one of the freckles there would be left unkissed.

She took her time mapping contours with her hands and mouth until her obedient subject finally uttered a plea, indicating that she desperately needed to come. Regina went to kneel at the foot of the bed and then dragged Emma closer by her ankles, burning her skin with friction from the bedding underneath.

A mix of need and desire darkened her green eyes before they closed. Regina draped the pair of sweat slicked thighs over her shoulders and leaned in to press kisses to the plane of a taut tum. There were more intimate freckles that she needed to taste. With one hand she thrust deep inside the junction between her legs alternating with a skillful curl that caused her partner to moan. With the other she pressed over Emma's heart so she could feel the thump of her pulse. The former evil queen could've reached in to take possession of the heart to prevent its being stolen or given elsewhere, but she didn't have to - it was more hers this way, being freely given.

How amazing it was that she had found love again and was finally been able to express it physically. This beautiful woman was allowing her to take her body and do whatever she wanted. A fantasy she had never permitted herself to entertain when they'd first met, despite her inexplicable attraction to the new deputy sheriff with her red jacket, tight jeans, and all that swagger.

_You're mine now, Miss Swan..._

As usual Regina was the first to wake upon daylight reaching the window. She stretched gently trying not to disturb her bedmate who somehow managed to take up more space than her slender limbs required.

No doubt Emma was exhausted after being put through her paces, a thought which brought back more than a few sexy images. Regina brushed away the light-coloured curls out of her lover's face and revealed a tiny smile there. Someone was almost conscious then.

"I'm sorry," Regina blurted out. She stared at the ceiling, laying on her back, unmoving as she felt Emma inch herself closer to throw an arm and a leg over her.

"Not for the sex I hope," Emma mumbled, ever the smartass. "Good morning by the way."

"No, I never apologised for my part in the fight."

"S'ok. I get it. We got in each other's faces a bit. We've made up."

She absolutely would not get over losing this woman. Regina was stuck for words, wishing that Emma could read her mind and know everything she couldn't say. How much she wanted her to stay in her mind, her bed, and her life and never leave any of those places for long.

"It's not ok," said Regina softly. "I'm sorry for using your abandonment issues against you. It isn't your fault. I should never have made you think you weren't wanted here. At this point I think it'd be futile if I wanted to rid my heart of your presence. But if you truly wanted to leave …"

Emma nodded. "Every part of me is telling me to run from this. I feel terrible for even considering leaving you and Henry and my parents. I've thought of it so many times, of just … going somewhere else. Getting away from it all."

"Do you want to leave Storybrooke?"

"The short answer?" Emma thought for a second and replied honestly. It surprised her that it was the truth. "No."

"What's the long answer."

"Hell no."

Regina rolled her eyes and turned her head to the side for a classic look that said ' _you're lucky I love you, you idiot_ '.

Emma smiled back. "Honestly, I'm tired of running. I've been doing it my whole life. It's funny because you're the Evil Queen and everyone else runs away from you screaming - except me. Instead I go and run towards you. I want to be wrapped up in your arms. Maybe your legs too. The screaming part is optional but very much appreciated."

"I'll allow it. Only if you're not sweaty."

"Liar." Emma accused. "I'm sweaty in your arms all the time and you don't seem to mind."

That was indeed the way that the activities of last night - or rather, early this morning - had ended. In a sweaty tangle of limbs. If the last few weeks had been an emotional rollercoaster, the last 24 hours had been one exhilarating peak. It began with a fight and then Regina was up most of the night making a love potion and making love with Emma. Even though she didn't get much sleep the former queen felt more rested and energised than she had in a long time.

It was Regina's firm belief that her happy ending was about to come to an abrupt end. She'd been a villain too long to believe otherwise. Every time she stepped foot on the path of happiness there was heartbreak waiting for her around the corner. It'd happened with Daniel. Now there was Emma and this time would be no different.

The walls of her life were literally closing in.

If only she could stop thinking of it that way and to concentrate on what the woman in bed next to her was saying. She did wonder how Emma could talk as though life was going to go on forever the way it was, apparently she'd picked up the blind faith that everything would end happily from her parents… or perhaps she was deluding herself.

Emma burrowed her head into the brunette's and nuzzled her skin. She was talking about their fight more seriously now, making Regina glad she found the nerve to bring it up when she could've let it pass. "You have this uncanny ability to discover all of my escape buttons and you push every damn one. It would be easier to leave if I didn't care."

"I'm not an easy person to love," Regina admitted. "I told Henry once that I don't know how to love very well and maybe it's still true."

"I adore the way you love me."

"You're post-orgasmic, dear, of course you'd say that now. Last night when you were angry you were being honest. I don't want to drive you away, which you have accused me of in a similar mood in the past I might add."

"I'm sorry about that. When I left last night I wasn't  _leaving_  leaving you. I want you to understand that I only needed a break. Because we were hurting each other."

"I know," Regina agreed. "We are good at that. Deep down I know the three of us will always be connected. But when you threatened to take Henry away… I panicked. I get so worried about him that I can't think of anything else. I reacted badly."

"It's alright." Emma smiled and made a joke to lighten things up. "No-one blames a Mama Bear for protecting her cub. I think you restrained yourself quite well actually - you didn't throw a fireball. Not even once."

"Clearly I'm becoming weak. That tends to happen to me when I fall in love. You've ruined me."

"That's the last thing you are, Regina." It was the last thing Emma said before going quiet and drifting back to sleep.

Not long later the alarm on one of the phones started playing from its position on the nightstand. All the blonde could do was groan about it being too early while Regina rolled over to silence the device before the third ring. Emma buried her head in the pillow to snooze and avoid reality for ten more minutes.

The Mayor threw off the covers and slid out of bed to collect her bathrobe where it was laying on the carpet nearby. She went into the adjoining ensuite to freshen up and fix her hair. Though she wasn't going into the office, with the election looming there was extra scrutiny on her appearances in public and she refused to give Sidney the satisfaction of printing a photo of her caught off-guard and sans lipstick. If the former queen was going to lose she would look at least look good doing it.

A muffled voice came from behind the bedroom door accompanied by a rattling of the door knob. "Mom, Mom? Why is the door locked?"

Regina called out. "Just a minute, Henry."

After making sure that both adults were decent Regina opened the door to see her adorable son waiting on the other side still wearing his pyjamas. Hopefully he wouldn't press too much about why he'd been locked out yet again. Usually she was already awake and ready before the boy came looking for his mothers but this morning was an exception. With a pre-teen child in the house it wasn't easy for the couple to find private time and so often they'd had to make do with late nights or early morning opportunities.

If they did manage to sleep-in, a locked door was all that could stop Henry from entering the room to jump on the bed. Having both his parents together at home was still something of a novelty for him. Regina didn't want her son to feel shut out in his own home but there were particulars of his mothers' relationship that she really didn't want to have to explain to him at his young age.

When she appeared Henry's excitement was not to be contained. "Did you make the potion, Mom? Is it activated yet?"

"Shhh, darling." Regina said in a gentle tone. "Not so loud. Your mother was called out to work in the middle of the night and she's very tired."

"Oh, sorry." Henry hushed his voice and padded towards the bed where a Sheriff-shaped lump was still snoozing. He bent down to kiss her good morning and attempt a hug. "Hi Mom. Did you have a big night?"

Emma replied with a one-armed hug. "Yeah. Hey, kid. I missed you."

Henry gave her his lopsided grin and reminder her that it hadn't been that long since she'd seen him. "I was asleep so I didn't miss you."

"Ha. You think you're funny do you?"

"Yup!"

After letting the pair have a moment together Regina gave Henry a good morning hug and then nudged him towards the door. "Go get your uniform on and I'll make you breakfast before school. I don't want you missing the bus again."

"School?" Henry protested. "But the town might disappear! I can help with the potion and magic stuff."

"I don't care if it's the last day of the universe, you are not missing school," said Regina.

It hadn't taken Henry long to discover that two parents were not as easy to exploit using bargaining or pleading if they sided with each other. But luckily he had one mother who was always up for a bit of mischief and who wasn't as strict with rules. He appealed to the ever-lenient Emma for a "second opinion" with a hopeful expression. She grinned in return.

Taking that as a cue, the eleven-year-old announced that they should take a vote on whether he ought to go to school or not. He was sorely disappointed when Emma sided with Regina by saying: "Nice try, kid, but this isn't a democracy. It's a Mom-ocracy and you're going to school."

In the end Regina shuttled Henry out and down the hall to make sure he was going to go get ready on time. She took a minute to thank him for his help making the potion last night and enjoyed seeing his face light up. He was developing his magical ability quite well. Unfortunately that made him even more excited to help and the only way to convince him to be out of the way today was to explain that his mothers still had to activate the potion and fix the town line.

"It's going to be ok, Mom," Henry said to her, packing his schoolbag, as she hovered in the doorway to his room. "Don't worry."

"As a mother and the Mayor of this town it's my job to worry," said Regina. "Magic isn't exactly forgiving when it comes to mistakes."

"Life is though. You'll see."

Regina stared at him in amazement as he went back to stuffing notebooks into his backpack. When had her eleven-year-old gotten so wise? Not that it had been sudden. He always had been intuitive and so knowing as a child, which was why he'd been able to figure out the ruses created by the Evil Queen's curse. She was constantly amazed by him and how wonderful it was to see him grow. Technically her son's very existence had been a "mistake", the result of an accidental teenage pregnancy, though Regina would never regard it as such herself. Henry was so  _necessary_  to her universe it seemed impossible that he existed only by luck.

"How- ?" Regina searched for words to a question that didn't come. "Nevermind. I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast in a minute. I need to go wake up your mother again. We have some things to do today."

Back in the queen's bedroom, Regina went straight to her walk-in closet to get dressed. When she came out she saw that Emma was already awake but opting to rest in the warm bed before rising. The Mayor went over to stand near the snoozing beauty, having donned a white shirt and waistcoat combination that happened to be a favourite of a certain Sheriff she knew. The outfit did not go unnoticed.

"He called me Mom," mumbled Emma with a smile. "He doesn't usually do that with you around. Apparently we're both 'Mom' now."

"And you're fine with it?" asked Regina.

"Yeah. It's weird for some reason but it does feel good. Really good. Are you ok with it?"

A slight curve of her lips was all Regina gave as her assent. "A year ago I would've killed you for appropriating my title."

Regina leaned over to place a quick kiss on the cheek of a very confused blonde. She tapped her fingers on top of a stack of paperwork that'd been sitting on the nightstand since yesterday. Either Emma hadn't bothered to take any notice or had assumed that it was merely Town business and ignored the forms. If the Sheriff was ever going to get the right idea she'd have to point her in the right direction.

"If you'd like to make it official … read these." Regina let her words trail off as a hint and rose upright.

Emma lifted her head off the pillow and grabbed the stack of paper, suddenly more curious than tired. There were pages and pages of numbered block legal paragraphs and attached forms. Just the thought of having to fill these out - whatever they were - made her brain want to shut itself down. Then several keywords jumped off the page and into her heart.

"Is this what I think it is?" Emma gasped and looked up, but Regina had already left the room.

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment_

David expected to be the only one up when he went downstairs to make coffee for himself and his wife. Surely the teenagers, who had arrived in the wee hours of the morn, would sleep long into the morning to make up for their nighttime hijinks. But one of them was already up.

Ri was standing at the kitchen counter with her back to him drinking from a tall glass of water. She wore her dark hair in a braid and was dressed in a sky blue coat, riding pants, and leather boots. It was the same outfit that she had been wearing when she first appeared in Storybrooke as a wide-eyed girl who feared doing wrong with the same intensity that she avoided it. The clothes no longer smelled of horse, having been laundered by Mary Margaret at least once.

David alerted her to his presence by greeting her. "Good morning, Ri. Did you manage to get some sleep?"

Ri turned around and he saw that she was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. Her answer was as genteelly pronounced as any she'd ever given. "Yes, thank you, David. I'm sorry that Em and I woke you so early this morning."

"It's no problem. Mary Margaret and I are glad that you did. You know you can come to us at any time, especially if you're in trouble."

The teenager nodded. "Yes. I'll keep that in mind."

"What happened last night?" asked David.

"Em and I spend some time together alone at Regina's house and then we went for a walk."

Suddenly this felt like an interrogation, the Sheriff's Deputy realised. He was still puzzled by the girls' nocturnal shenanigans and Ri's carefully constructed answers. He wasn't sure what to make of her. "Did you by any chance go near Tremont Street, past Principal Gander's house? Did you see or hear anything strange in that vicinity?"

"Why?"

"Mrs Gander is in hospital today. She reported that someone broke into her house and attacked her."

"How awful," Ri intoned with the appropriate amount of concern. "Well, bad things happen to those who deserve it I suppose. She's not a nice person. You should hear Em go on and on about hating the old Goose for what she says about Henry."

_She didn't deny that she was there,_  David made a mental note. Was it possible the girls were involved? Even if they were angry about the Principal's treatment of their future son, it seemed unlikely that they'd go and attack an old lady in her own home. But what if one of them did it and the other was covering for her? Who was protecting whom here?

Maybe they weren't there at all. Teenagers are always secretive to adults and afraid of getting in trouble. Perhaps they went out to be "alone" and that was why they didn't want to say where they'd been.

David chided himself internally for being suspicious about his own daughter and a girl he knew to have the sweetest heart. There was absolutely no reason to believe either of them was capable of violence. Their older selves were a different story… The prince had seen villages that had been laid to waste by Regina in her former incarnation as the Evil Queen and he knew enough to suspect that Emma could pack a punch when angered.

The girls would grow up soon enough. It wasn't fair to confuse them with their older selves, who were both inured to the unpredictable miseries of life and were far less deprived of agency than any teenage self could be.

Ri set her empty glass on the sink and announced her plan for the morning. "I'm going out."

"Do you need a ride?" offered David. "Where are you going?"

"I need to clear my head."

The former prince reminded himself that she wasn't his daughter. Ri was an adult and technically he had no right to push for answers, as much as he wished that the teen trusted him enough to volunteer the information. She'd stonewalled his attempts to question her about last night for whatever reason. He made one last effort, reminding her to be safe and offering her some money which she turned down.

"What do you want me to tell Em?" said David, as the petite brunette headed for the door. "In case she wakes up before you get back."

Ri smiled. "Tell her I'll see her soon."

* * *

_108 Mifflin St, mansion foyer_

"What the hell is this?"

Regina heard Emma's indignant voice from behind her as she closed the front door. Henry had already left. She had just sent him off to the school bus stop for the second time since he'd forgotten his lunchbox and homework the first time. Apparently she was now about to have yet another heated discussion with her favourite Sheriff in the mansion's foyer.

_Here we go again._  She should've known the former orphan might react like this. Humour might be the only way to derail her.

"I would've thought it was obvious, dear," said Regina, she turned to eye the stack of papers in Emma's hands. "Have you misplaced your ability to read? Perhaps you need an eye exam."

"No, that's not the problem." Emma held up the front page and pointed. "See? It says right here: Last will and testament of Regina Coraline Mills."

"That sounds rather self-explanatory to me. Generally a will is a legal document which provides for the distribution of a person's property and assets to take effect on that person's death or incapacity. As an Officer of the Court you ought to be aware of such things."

"Forget the legal mumbo-jumbo. What I want to know is why this thing is currently out in the open instead of being buried in your safe or filed away at some lawyer's office for the next couple of decades. So, Regina Coraline, my question still stands: What. The hell. Is this."

"My situation in life has changed. I had my will updated to reflect that when I met with Mr Gold recently."

Emma raised an eyebrow, a flicker of amusement in the action. "I'm choosing to ignore the fact that you just called me a 'situation'. Mr Gold is your lawyer? Even though he's a double-crossing snake who never does anything for anyone unless he can twist it for his own benefit somehow?"

"Yes," Regina admitted without falter. "He is quite simply the best in town. My will is tighter than any corset I used to wear as Queen - and that's saying something."

"Well, make sure it doesn't suffocate you." Emma said darkly. "I know enough about Gold and the law to know he can't be trusted. The law isn't always a friend either."

Regina ignored her and began explaining the terms of the will she'd had drawn up.

Previously in Storybrooke her true identity had been unknown and her mortality was secure, there had been no reason to consider the grave question of what would become of her child if the worst happened to her. She'd had no friends or family among whom to select Godparents from and it worried her now to imagine an orphaned Henry surviving in the cursed town alone like Ava and Nicholas with no adult who knew the truth. Then there was also the possibility that had the curse remained intact the Mayor would never have aged and eventually she would have outlived her son. None of that occurred to her when she adopted Henry, all she could think about was the feel of his tiny newborn weight in her arms and how perfectly he fitted there.

Regina concluded with the most important parts. "The deed to the house and everything else goes to Henry, with you as Executor and Guardian acting on his behalf until he's 25. I've named you as my civil spouse to ensure there are no issues with your accessing the estate. There are provisions for you as well as Henry's higher education."

"I'm not interested in your money," said Emma. "I still don't understand why you need to worry about this now. Wills are for people who are old or dying."

"Exactly. I may not survive after the curse rebounds. I don't know what will happen to me. Nothing is more important than our son so I need to know you can do this alone, Emma. We have to discuss this like responsible adults."

"No," Emma huffed in an obnoxious way. She crossed her arms and walked a few steps away before turning back. "We're not talking about this because you're not dying."

Regina fought against rolling her eyes at the other woman's behaviour and carried on. "It is a possibility. My will names you as Henry's legal guardian but ... I've been thinking about this for some time. I want you to formally adopt him."

Emma stared at her in horror as shook her head processing what she just heard. Not only was the woman she loved calmly discussing her own death, now she was talking about bringing her worst fear to life.

"You can't be serious!" said Emma. "It's your old nightmare come true. It's everything you were afraid of when I first came to town. You freaked out about me kidnapping Henry  _yesterday_. There's no way I can let you can effectively sign away your rights to him. I won't do it. You'll never be able to trust me again. I don't want to lose that trust, our relationship is built on it."

"This will give us  _equal_  rights to our son," Regina pointed out. "Like you said, we're together on this. As partners and legal parents. I wouldn't ask if I didn't trust you."

"I'm not sure if I do," confessed Emma. She quickly saw that Regina was about to get the wrong idea and rushed to clarify. "No, it's me I don't trust. I always manage to screw things up. Just look at this stupid shrinking border thing!"

"You'll do it because I'm asking you to. Besides it's for Henry's security more than it is for ours."

"We need you, Regina. I've told you I don't want to do this without you."

"That may not be possible, regardless of what you want. All I want is to take care of my family as best I can."

Emma fidgeted, swaying her upper body. "Let me think about it ok?"

Regina nodded and then added a warning. "Don't procrastinate as long as you usually do over paperwork, Emma. We're running out of time."


	63. Wishful thinking

"Hey Regina?" Emma was finally dressed for the day when she came into the kitchen where Regina was sat at the bench attending her chemistry set. The sorceress was attending the usual arrangement of glassware for concocting magical potions and was carefully selecting vials from her chest of supplies. The blonde glanced around as though she were looking for something and this was the last room she had to search.

Regina replied without taking her eyes off what she was doing. "Hay is for horses. I believe I've known a fine steed to greet me more eloquently than you do. Try again."

Emma rolled her eyes before putting on a show of bowing and scraping. "Excuse me, Your Majesty Queen Regina, may I trouble you with a question?"

"That's better. I do like it when you bend over for me."

"Don't start," warned Emma. "Where are the girls? They don't seem to be in the house."

"They're not," said Regina, indicating with her head towards the phone resting on the table. "Ri sent a text from Em's phone saying that they were going to stay the night at Mary Margaret's. She must've sent it yesterday but I only saw it a little while ago. I presume they're still there. Why? What do you suspect they got up to last night?"

Emma let out an amused snort. "I don't know but I'm betting Em was at the bottom of it."

"You still can't see Ri as capable of causing trouble herself can you? You do realise she's going to become the Evil Queen soon. She's me."

"I don't care what you say, Ri is as sweet as a cupcake and I'll never believe otherwise. Em on the other hand causes trouble just by existing."

"No, she's you," countered Regina. "She likes everybody to think she's too much trouble to bother with and - like you - she's wrong. You also do Ri a disservice by insisting that she's innocent of all wrongdoing, just as you did to me in the past by blindly insisting that I was pure evil."

That hadn't occurred to Storybrooke's Sheriff who, though familiar with grey areas of right-and-wrong, tended to ignore the dissonance between the sweet young version of Regina, the older reformed one, and their alter ego the Evil Queen. The truth was that they were all one and the same person and for Regina now it remained a daily test of her strength to not give in to darker means to solve her considerable list of problems.

There was no sense in lauding a person for making a good choice if it wasn't possible for them to otherwise make an evil one. Regina was the only one who knew exactly how capable Ri was becoming of the latter. Everyone else underestimated the petite girl.

"How's the potion going?" asked Emma.

"It's finished," Regina announced without the fanfare that a rare once-in-a-lifetime magical potion ought to receive. She scanned an aged piece of parchment with a curly script scrawled over it in ink. "I was just checking over a few things to make sure it's as Mr Gold described in his instructions. Apparently the True Love potion ought to glow and 'light up the world with the brightness of our love'. Or something. With that kind of sickeningly sweet prose Gold might take up a new career as a romantic poet. I am concerned that isn't glowing but that may be because it hasn't been activated yet. It is the most unique potion I've come across and I don't suppose I'll ever see another like it."

"Ooh can I see?"

In her eagerness to see actual magic being produced, Emma went closer to examine the delicate apparatus. There were flasks of various liquids, one hovering over a burner which was connected by a long distilling tube angled downwards so that whatever was produced would drip into another flask. It was the flat bottomed collection flask that held the finished product that caught her eye. It was filled with a purple substance that swirled on its own despite being completely still. Every now and again it sparkled like glitter and in the centre were two strands of hair: a blonde one spiralling around a perfectly straight darker one.

The sight was so mesmerising, almost like a tiny galaxy, that Emma felt as though she were being drawn towards it. She reached out her hand to verify it was real.

There was a sharp clink as several pieces of glassware collided.

"Be careful!" Regina yelped, hastily grabbing the flask of precious potion out of reach. "You nearly knocked everything over with your sleeve."

"Sorry," Emma blinked to clear her focus. "Shit! You mean I nearly destroyed the True Love potion that can only be made once? The one that's on a three-day timer to activate before it expires and Henry could disappear forever if we stuff it up?"

"Yes. That's the one, dear."

"So we still have to activate it, which we should do soon before anything bad happens to the town. We have to kiss."

"Not just any kiss-"

"-the kiss of True Love," Emma intoned with a slow nod. "Right. Let's do it. I'm bored of sitting around waiting for something else to go wrong. My Mom's pissed at me for procrastinating. Let's get this over with."

Regina made a noise of offense. "Thanks very much, dear. You make it sound like ripping off a bandage."

"You know what I mean. It's not like I don't love you, it's just that there's a lot riding on this and we have to do it right the first time. How should we go about this?"

"Kiss me."

"Um… like now?"

"Yes, now," said Regina impatiently.

"Ok," exhaled Emma. "Um, can I just-"

"Emma!"

"What? I need a minute to work myself up to it. It's like having first kiss nerves all over again. Remember you weren't the one who had to-"

Regina stood in one swift movement and pulled Emma's hips flush against hers by the belt loops of her jeans. She tilted her face and whispered into a strong jawline. "If it helps, you've already seen me naked. You've kissed me in far more intimate places, and you've felt me gasp against your mouth when gliding inside me for the first time."

Emma's tongue peeked out to moisten her lips.

The former queen locked their eyes together, noting that Emma's were darkening on the midnight side of blue-green today. "But that's not why I love you. You're the mother of my son. You infuriate me and challenge me and believe in me. I'm free to be myself with you, even on my worst days, and you make me feel safe. That to me is what a soulmate is."

Often each of them thought she'd had finally reached her heart's capacity, but then there was a moment like this - a word or a look from the other - that brought with it the realisation that  _"Yes, somehow it's true, I actually did just fall for her all over again."_  Hearing Regina's description of her was one of those moments for Emma.

Their very first kiss had been disastrous, the second hardly less so. But each of the multitude of kisses that followed evoked the same passion as ever. The tension that crackled when they were physically close, the height of emotion when they argued, the attraction they felt before they'd even known how important they'd be to each other's lives.

It was Emma who halved the distance between them but Regina was the one to initiate the kiss. It was loving and simple, neither of them tried to spur things on but as always it left a desire for more. Both drew away at the same time.

Emma recognised the gleam of mischief in a certain pair of dark eyes. She'd seen it many times before, beginning when they'd first met and when the Mayor would pop into the Sheriff's station unannounced to berate the new Deputy about her deplorable handwriting or some other flimsy excuse. It used to amuse her, even though she couldn't explain why she looked forward to it.

"You're giving me that look," said Emma.

Regina was all innocence. "What look?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. That Mayorish power-tripping look -  _'I'm up to something and then I'm going to take you bed'._  I think being happy has made you even more beautiful somehow."

At first Emma thought Regina averted her gaze and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear out of uncharacteristic shyness. It took a second for the smile to disappear from her face. And when it did she was disheartened by the grim result.

"Emma, look," the former queen said in a quiet voice.

The glass flask of potion rested on the table unchanged where it had been placed. The purple substance undulated around its core ingredients - but it did not glow. Both women watched closely, waiting for any sign that it might begin to emit its own light. Usually magic never failed to make itself known, be it loud bangs or pops or bolts of lightning. Silence was a bad sign.

Several minutes passed and nothing happened.

"I don't understand," Regina murmured. "I truly love you. Why isn't it enough?"

Emma sighed and placed a comforting arm around her. "Hey, it's ok. We'll figure it out."

"But I did everything right! What's missing?"

"Maybe Gold played us," suggested Emma with a frown. "He's been going behind our backs from the start. He's been teaching our kid magic, he knew about Em and Ri turning up in Storybrooke, and he supposedly gave us instructions for this love potion thing but then you had to make up the ingredients from scratch anyway… Maybe he 'accidentally' forgot to tell us something important so we'd have to go back to him for help."

"There is another explanation."

"You think we stuffed up the kiss part?"

"No, I think..." Regina visibly drew back and didn't look like herself. "Maybe I'm not your True Love after all."

"No way. You don't believe that-"

Suddenly Regina's eyes went wide with panic and she grabbed the forearm of Emma's leather jacket. "Henry!"

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment_

David was at the kitchen bench buttering some hot toast when his wife rushed down the stairs from the loft's upper bedroom. He glanced at the wall clock to gauge how late she was running for school. She headed straight to his side to accept a kiss and a piece of toast which she immediately stuffed into her mouth.

"Is Em ok?" said David. Their teenage daughter hadn't yet surfaced this morning, other than to go to the bathroom. When he'd told his wife that Ri had left earlier, they both started to worry about what effect that news would have on Em.

"Still in bed," Mary Margaret said around a mouthful of toast. "Says she's not feeling well today. Her tummy is acting up, poor thing. I gave her some ginger beer and crackers."

Mary Margaret dashed around the room, alternately tidying things up and packing her case of school things. One of the quirks of being an elementary teacher was that almost anything could be turned into art. More than once some of the class projects had been sourced from items in her own home or purchases that were the result of spending half her pay packet on craft items supplies that she couldn't resist buying for the kids. It was worth it to see their faces light up.

If she'd only gotten to raise her own daughter! _…_  Mary Margaret could picture in her mind a tiny girl wearing dungarees and blonde curls pulled into pigtails. The child had her chin. It was noticeable when she smiled. She looked about three, holding up her hands indicating that she wanted to be picked up by her Mommy. But every time the former Snow White went to lift her little princess into her arms the vision ended abruptly and she never got to hold her...

David sighed. "What are we going to do about the assault on Principal Gander? Whale was right, people are going to expect that Em will at least be brought in for questioning, given that she was identified by the victim."

"She's not doing anything while she's sick!" The pixie-haired school teacher started off on a rant. "If anyone disagrees they can bring it up with me. I don't care if the Blue Fairy is an old friend of Lucy Gander's or not. When she hears of Em's supposed connection to the attack she won't let go of it easily. But I don't care. Where has  _she_  been lately! She's missed every Council meeting so far. I hardly think she would have my daughter's best interests in mind."

"I'm waiting to go to the station until I hear from Emma. She'll be able to get the truth from Em. I doubt she'll want to arrest  _herself,_  but what else can she do?"

"Despite being the Sheriff Emma may not be the best person to decide that. We're the parents here. We can't let anything happen to Em, it's our job to protect our daughter. Even from herself. When the time comes you have to take our baby, David. You have to take her somewhere where she'll be safe and you can't tell anyone."

"Yes." David said after a while. He was already thinking of a place he had in mind. "I'll hide her where nobody would think she'd be. They'd never go looking for her in-"

"No, don't tell me!" Mary Margaret placed a fingertip over her husband's lips before he could reveal more about the location. " You know my record with keeping secrets. Now I have to leave for school or I'll miss the bell."

* * *

_Mr Gold Pawnbroker's_

The brass bell clanged noisily as the shop door swung open. The customer took no heed of the 'CLOSED' sign that dangled from the window and shut the door behind her firmly. She didn't care about barging in before opening hours or that her use of magic to pass through a locked door might be considered breaking and entering. There was every chance that the man inside might be expecting her.

Ri went straight to the counter. She had no eye for any of the shop's curiosities on this visit.

"Mr Gold!" the teen called.

The dingy curtain that hid the anteroom ruffled as the shop owner appeared. As expected, Mr Gold did not seem surprised by the identity or the hour of the visitor. Like always he was sharply dressed in a dark pinstriped suit and silk necktie. He came to stand before her, resting his palms atop his gold-handled cane.

"What can I do for you, Miss Mills?" Gold greeted her with his customary geniality.

"I need some answers," said Ri.

"I imagine you do. I heard you were involved in some mischief last night."

"I'm sorry?" said Ri, sounding anything but. "I really have no idea what you're talking about."

The corner of Gold's mouth upturned, unfazed by her bald lie. "Do you know that your young friend has been accused of the assault of Mrs Lucy Gander? The poor lady is in hospital today with a heart complaint. The doctors cannot explain what caused it."

"Why would they think it was Em?"

"It's widely known that she's a troublemaker. She's had a run-in with the Principal before at the school. Gander herself provided the description of her attacker's identity. What more proof does anyone need?"

Ri scoffed. "None, if they're credulous idiots. It wasn't her."

"Oh, I know that," said Gold, penetrating her with his stare. He began to stroll around her as if she were prey. "I can recognise the clumsy handprint of a novice. I'm especially familiar with Regina's early attempts at dark magic … Her work always did have a mark of hesitance about it, a reluctance to do harm. It took many lessons to quash those instincts in her. I knew it was you immediately."

"Have you told anyone?"

Gold paused as if he was still considering it. "Em Swan will soon be arrested and sent to jail for a crime you committed. Are you sure she loves you that much? Do you love her so little as to let her?"

Ri responded angrily. "Of course I won't let her do that! I'll confess."

"Do you think they'll believe you? The quiet girl of noble birth with an untarnished reputation versus a teenage delinquent who was arrested on her first day in town ... It will seem like you're trying to cover for her."

"No, it won't. I'll tell the truth about what happened."

"The truth? Since when does anybody believe the truth!" The pawnbroker chuckled at his own cynical cleverness. "What exactly shall you say - that you've been dabbling in dark magic already? Perhaps they'll want to kill off the Evil Queen before she's even 'born'. If you die now, who will save your son from the kind of unhappy childhood his birth mother had? Hmm?"

Ri's heart sank with guilt over what she had done. If assaulting an unarmed person with dark magic hadn't caused her to feel regret, the consequences of that action on Em's life certainly did. Why,  _why_ , had she let herself give into revenge! It seemed foolish now in the light of day, to think that she and Em were ever in the kind of real danger that warranted such violence. She should have just grabbed Em's hand and walked away from the bigoted old woman and her spiteful barbs instead of allowing anger to run the show.

Her actions could not be easily undone. Both Em's reputation and the Evil Queen's preceded them in Storybrooke. The two bad seeds. Regina had instant empathy for Em and whisked her away to commiserate on both being thought "bad" by the Charmings. At the time Ri had been happy to stay close with Emma, an adult figure offering succour, who was constantly praised for being good. Ri's own reputation for being a good girl was now detriment to her, she literally could do no wrong according to others.

Gold was probably right, prejudice would win the day again.

_Either way I'll lose her,_ Ri realised, thinking about Em and their predicament perhaps resulting in the worst scenario. _She'll never forgive me if I stay silent and betray her, but she'll never forgive me if I'm not able to give our son his best chance in this world. If I don't create Storybrooke, Henry's home will never exist. I can't choose between the two loves of my life! There must be a way to save them both._

_I wish there was a way for my family to be safe._

Ri started to pace while wringing her hands together. They were tingling with magic again. The temptation was there every time she felt frustrated or scared. Darkness had licked her soul and now its appetite was whetted for more. It beckoned her and offered to "help" solve her problems. Hadn't she learned her lesson last night about resorting to magic? Why did life present such difficult choices? Why couldn't she do anything to ensure that Em and Henry would be safe and happy? All she wanted - by whatever means - was for the three of them to be reunited one day.

Ri sighed. "If only I could do something! I wish that -"

As soon as Gold moved his cane clattered to the floor. He was on her in an instant. A hand clapped over Ri's mouth to snatch her next words from her before they could be spoken aloud. The teenage girl struggled against his hold and her protests to be let go came out as muffled sounds. "Mm-mh-ghhhw!"

Ri grabbed at his forearm trying to throw him off and when that failed she tried to wriggle herself free. She wasn't strong enough to fight him off physically and her magical instincts were not yet honed, nor would they be much use against his level of power. She had no idea what was happening.

It was all over in a few seconds. When Gold released her, Ri backed away from him to a safe distance. The pawnbroker held something in his hand tightly, as if he'd plucked a moth from the air and he could feel its wings tickling his palm due to the creature fluttering wildly trying to escape. Keeping balance on his good leg he leaned over to the nearest glass cabinet to fetch a large glass storage jar.

"Wha-" Ri coughed to clear her damaged voice, she panted with the effort of her struggle. "What did you do to me, you foul beast! How dare you manhandle me."

Gold dropped his hand into the jar and released whatever he'd captured. Then he quickly shut the lid down and screwed it on tightly. Oddly, the jar still appeared to be empty. Whatever it now contained was as invisible as air. He waved his down-facing palm over it and then the jar disappeared into a puff of purple smoke, leaving his hands empty again.

His cane levitated magically from the floor and returned to his grip.

"Don't worry, dearie," said Mr Gold. "You won't miss it. Besides, Fairy magic is rather useless. If you want something done you have to work for it. Not wish it out of thin air."

"You stole  _my wish?_!" Ri's mouth dropped open in horror.

Gold shrugged. "You won't be needing it where you're going."

"But I need it now! I could use it to change things for Em and Henry's future. I've waited my whole life for the chance to make a wish that would come true. I've made so many wishes and none of them were ever fulfilled. I never understood why I was denied my birthright in the first place."

"I suppose the Blue Fairy thought you weren't in need enough. The Fairies received your wishes and ignored them at their leader's behest."

"But Astrid said it was because our family patron died."

"Oh, it was. The Mills Family's patron fairy was murdered in a rather brutal manner. It was rumoured that she possessed a very powerful wand that Cora coveted for herself and so suspicion fell on your mother, though it was unable to be proven. The Fairies stripped everyone in the family of wishing privileges - including you - as a punishment. Crushing hearts is a kindness compared to tearing the wings off a magical creature while it screams in agony."

Ri tightened her jaw against the nausea that rose inside her at the thought of any living creature being tortured in that manner. "Did my mother kill our fairy that way?"

"Cora wasn't the only one who wanted the wand, there were many other suspects. But it was I who arranged for the investigation to be dropped. A certain high-ranking Fairy owed me a favour and she did not like repaying that debt, believe you me. I used my influence to stop the inquiry in its tracks."

"Why would you do that?" Ri narrowed her eyes in suspicion and the pieces of everything she'd heard began to fit together. "It wasn't my mother was it. It was YOU. That's why you had the investigation dropped, in case they discovered the truth. You let my mother take the blame for it. You killed our fairy to stop me from making a wish while I was growing up! That's why you've taken the one Astrid gave me in this world. It was my last chance."

"I can't let you go back to the past with a brand new wish and ruin everything," Gold explained like it was an obvious and very funny joke. "No doubt you'll ask for something foolish like love or happiness and then you will be entirely useless to me. I have big plans for you, my little monster."

"No! You don't know me. It's my life!"

"I did not spend centuries putting things in motion to have my curse ruined by the romantic desires of a silly teenage girl. It is not for you to thwart fate and change the future."

_Love is not silly!_  Ri's heart protested with indignance.

_Love is everything to me. Why do people spend their lives seeking to find banal treasures or to capture foreign lands when true happiness is nearer? Is it my dreams that are small - or theirs? All I have ever wanted was to marry for love, to make a family and a home. I could have only Henry and Em for the rest of my life and yet I'd want for nothing. That's the only happy ending I will accept._

_But what if I am as destructive to my child as my mother was to me? I must make sure that never happens! I could never forgive myself if I became like her. Em is not like my father, she would not put up with anyone hurting her child - even me - and I wouldn't want her any other way._

Ri had already been tricked out of her one wish, there was no way she was leaving before getting the answers she had come here for. Whatever horrors lurked in the outskirts of her life, she would find them out and then no surprises could ever harm her again.

"Tell me my mother's secrets," said Ri, trembling with anger. "Mother may not have killed our patron but there is more to her past, I know there is."

Mr Gold spoke gently to her for once. "You don't want to know. Trust me on that."

"Stop treating me like a child! Why does she want to force my marriage and to put me on the throne? Why she doesn't love me?"

"Out of all of Cora's secrets you've chosen exactly the one that a child would ask. I'm afraid it won't do you any good but I will tell you: she is heartless. She doesn't love you because she can't."

"What?!" cried Ri.

"Cora removed her heart shortly after her marriage to your father and buried it. Doing so dulled her capacity to feel emotions, all except her ambition for power. She sought to fill the empty cavity in her chest with it and when she reached the extent of her own social position, she decided to use her daughter to gain that to which she could never ascend to herself - the throne. Her revenge upon the Royals would then be complete."

Ri's eyes filled with tears. She was more than a pawn in her mother's political game. Cora chose a life of power over her own daughter. Gold was right, she really did not want to know that. Cora was an overbearingly strict parent, but Ri had always rationalised it as the pressures of her station and consoled herself with the knowledge that at least she occupied a singular place in her mother's heart. To lose her mother's love without ever having received it was a cruel blow.

All she'd wanted as a child growing up was to please her parents. As Ri got older and the Estate grew smaller she began to wish for freedom. Now her mother was trying to slam doors shut all around her. Power might be the only way she'd ever be free now.

"Everybody wants me to become the Queen..." the young Regina said somberly. Her eyes lost focus. "Then so be it. They will get the Queen that they deserve."

"What about your love?" said Gold eagerly leaning forward.

"While ever I cannot be with my Emma I will destroy anyone else who dares touch me without love in their heart. They will all pay for my unhappiness. This vow I will never break."

"Just out of interest…" The pawnbroker lifted his shoulders, pretending not to be interested in the answer to what he was about to ask. "If you could make one wish right now, what would it be?"

"I wish that Em and I could go home!" Ri buried her face in her hands momentarily and then turned around to pace. "We don't belong here and if we stay we'll ruin our own lives. I want to go back to the time when I didn't know any of this. I miss things being simple, the way they were before. I was better off not knowing my future at all. Now I fear it. So does Em. She knows she can't be a mother yet but the guilt of having to give up her child is eating away at her. All I need to know is that Em and Henry and I will be together again one day."

"I miss home! I miss my room and my clothes and riding the Estate grounds with my beloved Rocinante. I miss my parents most of all - who they used to be, not what I know of them now. I don't want them to be dead anymore! Because I want to tell them to their faces how much they let me down, and how they should've been better for my sake. When I came here I lost my parents. It's even worse because now I know the truth about what Mother has in store for my future and my Father won't lift a hand to stop her! I need to unknow it. My heart aches that I will never be able to forget. I love them so much but they've hurt me so badly."

Mr Gold said something that might've been an insincere apology for telling her "too much" but the young brunette didn't even hear it.

"There is only one thing I need to remember," said Ri to herself. "Coming to Storybrooke has shown me that Regina and Emma and Henry have been happily reunited. I  _must_  remember to cast the curse at all costs. It will be my happy ending. Everything else I'd rather forget."

"And you!" she said, baring her teeth at her future master. "You treacherous bastard! It's because of you that I'm to be separated from them for so many years. One day I will be as powerful as you are and if you so much as breathe in their direction I will dedicate my days to making your life a misery."

"I have to go!" said Ri suddenly.

Mr Gold watched as she fled the shop with tears in her eyes. Only once the distressed teenager was gone did he allow himself to show a satisfied smirk. She was just as he remembered his young student to be - kind, beautiful, and so very powerful. Her future was about to collide with his past and it would set in motion a series of intricate events that would lead them exactly to where things stood now. Such was the cyclical nature of time.

"Goodbye, Regina," he murmured. "See you soon."


	64. In for a Penny

_“Mom Mom Mom!” Henry came running to them with tears falling down his face._

 

_Em’s head whipped around but it was Regina who the boy ran to, throwing his arms around his mother as he crashed into her middle. This Henry was much shorter than he was now. She could hardly believe how little he’d been when she’d first met her son. He’d grown up without her. Regina captured him and began comforting him straight away._

 

_For some strange reason they were in the middle platform of a train station and it was completely empty apart from the three of them. It was cold and windy from the trains that flew through the station without stopping._

 

_The two Millses hadn’t noticed her yet._

 

_“Mom, help me!” Henry cried in distress._

 

_“Are you hurt?” said Regina urgently, stroking his dark hair back. “What is it?”_

 

_“Look!”_

 

_Henry held up his hand to the light where it streamed through the near-invisible skin. The ends of his fingers were almost completely gone and the rest of his hand was see-through up to his wrist. Dread sank like shot in Em’s stomach and she felt sickened by the sight._

 

_“Oh god!” Em heard her own voice say. The outburst drew looks from the other two. “He’s disappearing. We changed the past and it’s starting to affect the future.”_

 

_“Henry, don’t worry,” Regina said softly, eyes filling with tears as she cupped his frightened little face. “Remember, Good always wins, just like your book says. Your mother will fix this because she’s the Saviour.”_

 

_“Me?!” yelled Em out of panic. “I don’t know what’s happening! Regina, you were the Evil Queen. You’re the one with magic. Use it to do something good for once in your life.”_

 

_The hem of her black coat snapped in the wind as Regina stood in one quick motion. She grabbed the collars of Em’s leather jacket and brought their faces close together so that she could hiss fiercely. “Henry is going to disappear off the face of the Earth and you want to fight about who’s good and who’s not?! DO something, Emma!”_

 

_“Emma,” pleaded Henry. “I don’t want you to be my Mom. I already have a Mom. Let me go.”_

 

_The two women watched as Henry faded into thin air before their eyes. Em felt sure it was her fault and expected to see pure hatred from the murderous sorceress beside her._

 

_“I will never forgive you for this, Em. Give him to me! He’s mine.”_

 

_But the voice came from Ri who stood next to her now instead of Regina. Her slight figure was draped by an elaborate white gown with a long train and a gold crown pinned tightly into her hair in a way that looked painful. It was not Ri’s dress, the one she’d made herself with care and hope, so it was not the one she ought to have worn for her wedding._

 

_A skeletal hand crawled across Ri’s throat taking possession of the innocent flesh. It belonged to a darkened figure whose identity Em couldn’t make out no matter how hard she tried. Ri struggled to breathe as the grip grew tighter pulling her back with it into the shadows but the young queen endured it without a protest or scream._

 

_And then she disappeared too, leaving Em alone._

 

_But she wasn’t alone. There was a tiny baby in her arms, naked and wrapped in a white knitted blanket with a purple ribbon threaded through it. The baby mewled._

 

_Nothing made sense and time seemed to speed up. The platform beneath her feet was gone. Em looked down at her shoes and saw rails and sleepers instead. She was on the tracks. The screech of wheels and a blaring horn hurt her ears. The baby in her arms slept on unknowing. When she looked up again there was a train heading right for her---_

 

Em woke gasping for breath.

 

It took her a few seconds to realise where she was. She was safe in the spare bedroom at Mary Margaret’s apartment. There was no train station. There was no train. There was no baby. It was just a dream. Both she and the bedclothes were soaked with sweat and tears.

 

“Ri?” she panted, but there was no answer. The other side of the bed was cold.

 

Ri wasn't there. She must’ve gotten up early as she was wont to do. Em wished desperately for the loving reassurance of her arms and the warmth of her body. They’d had a tiff last night so she understood Ri’s choice to put distance between them this morning but it made her want her even more.

 

There was a sick feeling inside her and the only words that came close to describing it was as a longing to go home. The problem was she didn’t have a home and had never had one in fact.

 

In her half-awakened state Em’s mind wasn’t certain that the dream hadn’t been real. The fear certainly was. Her eyelids closed again as tiredness took over and her last conscious thought was to hope not to return to the same place as in the dream. The exhausted teen fell back to sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

_108 Mifflin St_

 

The potion hadn’t worked.Emma could tell Regina was about five seconds from starting to freak out. Obviously she’d put two and two together and concluded that they weren’t soulmates after all, but that wasn’t what was causing her to panic.

 

Emma knew exactly what the other woman was afraid of -- they had tried to activate the potion on the assumption that they were True Lovers and failed. Gold had warned them that if they weren’t actually soulmates then their son could die or be retconned out of existence because he was the “product of their love”. Who knew whether the imp was even telling them the truth. What would happen to Henry now? Maybe the damage had already been done.

 

Emma let her instincts reach out across the town searching for his location. A quick response pinged her internal GPS.

 

“Wait!” She grabbed the brunette’s arm before she could run or poof away into a cloud of purple smoke.

 

“Let go!” hissed Regina. “Take your hands off me right now or so help me, I’ll kill you for this. You convinced me everything was going to be fine and it’s not. Henry!”

 

“Don’t shut me out,” Emma said hastily. “I know you’re freaking out but just don’t freak out ok. Listen-”

 

“ _No._ I’ve had enough of listening to your baseless assurances.”

 

There was that skittish look that Emma knew well. Regina was about to teleport magically. She encircled her with a pair of strong arms and held her tight from behind to prevent it. Somewhere in the depth of her mind Emma realised how stupid it was to try to restrain the woman who’d once been a powerful evil sorceress. It was about as advisable as mishandling a live grenade. Her own magic protected her for the moment, but the second she let go all of the wrath of the Evil Queen would be directed at her.

 

“Let me go!” ordered a struggling Regina. “You’re blocking my magic. I need to go to my son.”

 

“He’s my son too-”

 

“Not for much longer. Maybe he’s already gone and disappeared off the face of the Earth. Or maybe he was never born-”

 

“No, it’s ok! Listen to me,” Emma pleaded. “I feel him. I can always find Henry, or anyone, with magic. I know he’s still here in Storybrooke...”

 

There was a second where Regina paused in her struggles making Emma think that she was getting through to her. She lowered her guard enough for the former queen’s magic to break through. If she hadn’t still been holding on, Emma was sure that Regina would’ve poofed away and left her behind. Instead she got pulled along for the ride. The two of them disappeared in a cloud of violet purple smoke.

 

* * *

 

 

_Storybrooke General Hospital_

 

_Cardiovascular ward, private room_

 

An elderly woman lay still and quiet in the bed asleep. Lucy Gander’s snow-white feathery hair rested beneath her head on the pillow instead of in its usual severe bun. She was hardly recognisable  without the even more severe expression that usually pinched her face as well.

 

It was too early for visiting hours. The ward was only beginning to rouse to life for breakfast rounds. The Blue Fairy (also known as the Mother Superior) was not an uncommon presence in the hospital corridors at odd hours. Often she was there to provide chaplaincy and spiritual support to ailing patients or grieving relatives, so she passed through unquestioned by the staff.  

 

Upon entering the room the Blue Fairy noted the heart monitors that her old friend was hooked up to and started to pray.

 

“Pssst. Blue?”

 

The nun looked up to see one of her former initiates standing in the doorway gesturing for her. It was Astrid, wearing a black t-shirt with some pink-haired woman on it and those skin-tight type of jeans that the youth wore today. There was a fluro pink clipboard with a diamond clasp in her hands.

 

The Blue Fairy went over so they could converse softly without disturbing anyone. “Yes, Pink, what is it?”

 

Astrid glanced at the patient’s bed and then apologised for intruding. “It’s my first time receiving one of these and I’m not sure what to do...”

 

“Are you going to explain? Sometime before the Second Coming preferably.”

 

“Yes, sorry!” squeaked Astrid. When she went to hand over the lurid clipboard she fumbled it with a clatter which sent her into another round of hushed apologies.

 

The Blue Fairy pursed her lips from displeasure. She didn’t have the time nor the patience for the clumsy girl today. But as soon as she read the details of the clipboard’s top sheet (once it eventually made it into her hands safely), she was glad that Astrid had the foresight to check with her first.

 

“This is a Wish Requisition Form,” said Blue. “It was logged early this morning by one of your Patron Family members. If you’ve completed your training modules you should know what to do next.”

 

“Well, yes,” Astrid hedged. “But did you see who made it?”

 

“I did.”

 

Blue had seen thousands of wishes granted and denied during her time, and the requests spanned the gamut from the ill-advised to the outright bizarre. After young Henry Mills’s wish for himself to be born she thought she’d never see a more unique request during her tenure. But this newest one rivalled that apparent paradox. It made perfect sense given what was known about the history (and future?) of Storybrooke, and furthermore, it would rid the town of a potential threat.

 

“Grant the wish.” Blue instructed the young Fairy before handing back the paperwork.

 

Astrid’s dark-lined eyes widened. “But don’t you think we should warn the Royals?”

 

“Confidentiality prohibits it.”

 

“But, I mean, it wasn’t even _her_ that made the wish. Not really. And given the location it may have been under duress-”

 

“The Need Specification section has been explained in full and in my opinion the case for needing a wish has been adequately made. As far as I am aware this is well within the limits of your power. I see no reason to overturn.”

 

“But-!”

 

The Blue Fairy sighed. Gone were the days when young Fairies barely old enough for training wings were too awed to question her authority. Astrid would have to learn her place -- and that of all Fairies -- in the general hierarchy of things. They were only supposed to guide, not get too involved in the course of mortal history. Of course that had not stopped Blue from intervening last time the safety of the Royal line had been in danger though. She’d done her duty by ensuring that the baby girl would escape the curse. It was time to intervene again. The Royals would be kept in the dark, they didn’t need to know the truth then and they didn’t need to know it now.

 

Blue knew it would be easy to convince the younger fairy to see what needed to be done. “Pink, you have an obligation to fulfill and the consequences of refusal are dire. It could cost you your life -- or worse -- your career. You’re a Fairy Godmother now, this is what you wanted remember?”

 

“Yes! It was -- it _is_ \-- what I want," Astrid's earnest desire to please was evident. “More than anything I want to help people. But-”

 

“Then you know what you have to do. Send her home. Or I will.”

 

* * *

 

_Storybrooke Elementary_

 

A plume of purple smoke appeared out of nowhere beside the school’s front gate. Some of the adults and children nearby yelped in fright at the unfamiliar sight of magic. Despite originating from an enchanted land, few ordinary citizens had actually witnessed magic being performed and even when they did it usually boded ill for them. They stared. No doubt waiting to see if their lives were in danger or not.

 

As the smoke dissipated a blonde woman in a red leather jacket tumbled to the ground. “Ow, fuck, my knee! I need that."

 

One of the littlest kids pointed. “Mommy, is she a good witch or a bad witch?”

 

The toddler’s mother quickly grabbed his hand and whisked him away. Several of the parents in the vicinity made noises of shock and disgust, apparently more due to the offensive language than the display of sorcery. They shielded their children’s ears and herded them like sheep through the gates towards the playground.

 

“Can you act with decorum for once in your life, Sheriff!” hissed the Mayor. “You’re scaring the peasants.”

 

“Me?!” Emma growled back sotto voice. She noted the stares she was attracting and then jumped to her feet, brushing the grass off her denim-clad butt. “You’re the one doing dark magic in front of them. And by the way, Madam Mayor, they’re voters not peasants. If you’d listened to me for five seconds-”

 

“It would be five seconds too many.”

 

“-you could’ve used your Magic Mirror to show us that Henry was safe without us having to leave the damn house. Or are you not allowed to use it for your own good?”

 

Regina glared, not liking having that pointed out to her. “You can finish making friends with the ground if you like but I’m going to go find my son. I want to see him with my own eyes. If he’s gone from existence you’d better be prepared to follow suit.”

 

“I told you, he’s not gone! I can feel him over there-”

 

As soon as the brunette stalked off ahead Emma rolled her eyes, clenched her fists and kicked at the air. Sometimes -- often -- Regina could be utterly infuriating.

 

When they found their eleven-year-old son he was waving happily to Miss Blanchard, who had apparently just arrived herself and was rushing into work. The schoolteacher ruffled his hair on her way and told him not to be late for the bell which was just about to ring.

 

The Mayor and the Sheriff ran the last few steps, both relieved to see their son alive. They checked him visibly for any signs of non-existence but he seemed perfectly intact and unharmed as though nothing were amiss.

 

Regina called out. “Henry!”

 

“Hey, Moms,” said Henry, giving his mothers a surprised smile. “What are you guys doing here?”

 

“You ok, kid?” asked Emma, examining him closely.

 

“Sure. Why?”

 

“We just-” Regina smiled brightly and tried to be nonchalant. “Wanted to make sure.”

 

When the boy furrowed his brow Emma realised she had to throw off the suspicion. She patted him on the shoulder, unable to resist her need to make sure he was solid and not some kind of apparition. “We forgot to tell you to have a good day at school. So have a good day and er- … do your best ok.”

 

"Don't do any magic," Regina blurted out.

 

“You’re being weird, Moms.” Henry narrowed his eyes and looked from one to the other. “What’s going on? Did something happen with the potion?”

 

“We are not weird,” Regina chastised, brushing his other shoulder of a piece of lint. “We’re your parents. Sweetie, where’s your scarf? It’s cold out.”

 

"Mom, I'm fine. I gotta go soon."

 

Luckily the school bell rang and the kids began filing inside in a semi-orderly manner. Henry managed to extricate himself from their mothering and questions by saying that he didn’t want to be late for class. He hugged them both at once and then scampered off to be swallowed into a sea of children all dressed similarly in their school uniforms.

 

Most of the parents, having now dropped off their kids, were returning to the gleaming parade of silver and black SUVs so they could get on with their days at work or at home. By the looks of it a few parents recognised the Mayor or the Sheriff or both but didn’t give them a second glance. The chaos of the school run would soon be over only minutes after it began.

 

“So...” Emma hooked her thumbs into her pockets and swayed her hip. She raised an eyebrow as if to imply what she really wanted to say was, ‘ _I told you so_ ’.

 

Regina’s response was a single stiff nod. “Henry’s fine.”

 

“Just like I said he would be.”

 

"Yes. For now."

 

"I'll give you a hint," Emma grinned. "The words are: 'Sorry for freaking out on you, Emma. I should have trusted your awesome magical powers.'"

 

“'Awesome', seriously?!” said Regina, accusation obvious in her outburst. “You are the most frustrating person I’ve ever met! You have god-knows how much power inside of you and you don't use it. You have some sort of magic but you won’t study the craft or learn how to direct it properly. You still haven't done anything about the border and it’s nearly on our doorstep. You're the laziest Saviour in history!"

 

After an uncomfortable pause Emma exhaled. “Wow. Harsh much?"

 

Regina sighed and softened her expression. "Sorry. I'm - ... I didn't mean that."

 

"It's ok if you did."

 

Emma stepped towards her with a slight smile, forgiveness at the ready before the apology was even made. Regina had been making a concerted effort to avoid taking out her worst tendencies on those she loved lately. The impending doom facing the town meant that there was little room for letting pettiness linger. She was trying. It made Emma feel more than a twinge of guilt and resolved to harder herself.

 

"I don't want to kill you either," Regina added, her voice dropped to that gravelly tone of vulnerability that Emma had heard only a few times.

 

“I know. Sorry I’m a crap saviour.”

 

“You have your moments. Eventually.”

 

Emma let her eyes drop for a second and gave the hem of Regina’s waistcoat a tug with her fingers. “Are we friends again?”

 

Regina laughed low in her throat. “Friends? Dear, you and I have never been just friends.”

 

“Not judging by the way you look at me all the time. I’ve seen you checking me out since we first met.”

 

“That wasn’t not love in my eyes, it was murder.”

 

“I don’t believe you,” Emma teased, and Regina leaned in closer towards their lips meeting. For ten seconds they forgot their problems and shared a nice but fairly chaste kiss at the school gates.

 

“I need more time,” Emma whispered when she drew back a little. “I know you’ve changed and it’s hard to be patient while waiting for me to get my act together. You’re the only one who’s never abandoned me. I need you to trust me.”

 

Regina frowned and tried to read what the stormy blue-green eyes bare inches away were saying, what they pleaded with her to understand.

 

Before she could ask or demand the truth a shrill voice interrupted the moment

 

“EXCUSE ME. What are you doing?”

 

* * *

 

“What kind of behaviour is that around a school? There are innocent children around.”

 

Emma turned with ‘what-the-fuck?’ on her lips, stunned by the tone as much as by the complaint. A prune-faced middle-aged women with feathery brown hair stood behind her glaring with all her might, and she was also attempting to cover the eyes and ears of her grumpy-looking child who appeared to be younger than school-age. Emma was loathe to give her any attention at all but she would grit her teeth and do her civic duty.

 

The Sheriff tried not to be sarcastic at first. “Can I help you? Sorry for swearing in front of the kids earlier, but they’ve probably heard worse in the playground or on MTV anyway.”

 

“My children do not watch that sort of trash,” the woman hissed and shot Regina a look. “I was referring to what you were doing just now.”

 

“What. Kissing my wife?”

 

“Sheriff,” Regina broke in hastily. “This is Henrietta Penny, president of Storybrooke Elementary’s Parent and Teacher Organisation, and formerly one of the founding partners of Penny Little and Associates.”

 

Emma realised that as a mother of a child at the school and a public figure in the town Regina must know who this woman ex-lawyer was. There seemed to be no love lost between the two judging by their body language, though she would never put money on _anyone_ who tried to oppose the formidable Mayor. With the election looming, Regina was now making an effort to be more diplomatic (that is, less terrifying) towards the locals however stupid they might be.

 

“Mrs Penny," Regina began. "Allow me to introduce Sheriff Emma Swan. I’m sure you recall attending the election in which she won the popular vote despite not being my preferred candidate.”

 

“A sham election,” sniffed Mrs Penny. “The Office of the Sheriff is evidently back under your control, Mayor Mills. Nothing has changed there. I see your taste for a man in uniform runs wilder than I thought. No wonder you escaped incarceration after the curse broke.”

 

Emma smirked. “Casting curses isn’t exactly against the law in this country. Otherwise I’d have thrown her in a cell for punishment.”

 

Penny’s eyes bugged at the innuendo but kept her focus on an unfazed Regina. “The corruption at Town Hall must end! I assure you the polls will not be kind to you in the Mayoral election. Now that everybody remembers who you are you’ll have a job convincing the people you cursed to vote for you.”

 

Regina gave her a winning politician’s smile. “I do love a challenge.”

 

“The entire PTO including Principal Gander is against you. We demand that Storybrooke have a Mayor with strong moral values who will stand up for the rights of families in our community.”

 

Before Regina could begin the spiel she’d crafted with Kathryn to counter this very campaign issue and defend the idea that she was in fact a family-oriented candidate, Emma did it for her.

 

“Mayor Millsunderstands the needs of Storybrooke families because she has her own family here,” said Emma. “Our eleven-year-old son Henry is a student at this school. He’s a good kid and we want the best for him. The safety of Storybrooke is our top priority.”

 

“Two women raising a child together is not the kind of family I believe in.”

 

“Then it’s a good thing no-one asked for your shitty homophobic opinion,” said Emma, cold as ice.

 

“That’s not what I-!” Mrs Penny cut her protest off and changed tack, ignoring the toddler tugging on her arm with increasingly loud pleas for attention. “I have no problem with gay people and that kind of lifestyle, but it isn’t appropriate to have that sort of thing in a family environment like this. I don’t want those ideas pushed on my children.”

 

Emma gritted her teeth but it was no good. She was royally pissed now.

 

Two things happened at once then -- the first was that the tyres on the nearest SUV ruptured simultaneously with a bang and a hiss, and the second was that Penny’s child launched into a full-scale tantrum with screaming and tears. The shrill woman was torn between disciplining her child and shock at the sudden damage to her car.

 

“My car!” wailed Mrs Penny. Her child wailed louder in competition. “What is the meaning of this?”

 

“Oh is that _your_ car?” said the Sheriff, all politeness. “In that case I’m going to have to book you.”

 

“For what? The tyres blew by themselves!”

 

Emma took her cell phone out and snapped a pic of the vehicle. "Nope. You’re parked the wrong way. I’m writing you a ticket for ‘Parking contrary to the orderly flow of traffic’. Expect a fine in the mail and another if you delay any longer in organising a tow. I suggest Michael’s Garage. Have a nice day.”  

 

And with that the Sheriff pocketed her phone again, ignored the flabbergasted Mrs Penny, and turned and walked away. The gold badge pinned to her chest was highly visible and for once Emma didn’t even feel like a shit for abusing her authority. Now that the former orphan finally had a family of her own after years of being alone it was grating to have someone invalidate the love and support that meant everything to her.

 

Whether Penny was ignorant or mean-spirited or both was hard to tell. She and Gander’s other cronies were clearly biased against the Mayor anyway so it’s not like it was risking any votes in the upcoming election. Emma was sick of people getting away with being able to spout their ridiculous opinions without a care in the world for who got hurt by them.

 

The tyre thing was a bit immature yes, but it was something her teenage self, Em, might’ve done and that thought made Emma glow inside with rekindled mischief.

 

Regina caught up with her after a few steps. “Emma!” she hissed. “That was magic. _Your_ magic. And it wasn’t an accidental manifestation of your powers. You did that deliberately.”

 

“So what if I did?”

 

“It wasn’t exactly _heroic_ of you, Saviour.” Regina lifted an eyebrow. “You’ve yet to save the town but you would use your powers for childish pranks? I'm sure Penny is hardly the first time you’ve had to deal with such nonsense.”

 

“Exactly. I don’t have time to deal with that now. The town’s going to hell and they don’t know how much danger you’re in. It’s my job to make sure you make it to that election alive. I’ll do what I have to do.”

 

"Which is what. There are only two days before the potion expires, if the border lasts that long. But it’s useless because True Love’s kiss didn’t work for us and we can’t activate the potion without it. What exactly is your plan? If you even have one.”

 

Emma nodded and smiled to herself, “We need to try it again. This time with a bit more oomph.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


 


	65. Be careful what you wish for

Regina shrugged lazily. "Perhaps it's because you're not a very good kisser, Miss Swan. Accept it."

"What?! You've never complained before." Emma's jaw dropped for a second then she retaliated. "Well,  _you_  didn't know what you were doing the first time you went down on me. I gave you feedback and taught you everything I know."

"Yes, but what you taught me is not everything that I know. I'm a quick study. Now I'm better at it than you are."

"How the hell do you figure that?" spluttered Emma, bewildered.

"You make more sounds than I do."

"Oh, ok. Let's go there. What about the first time I found one of your special spots huh? You were definitely screaming then, Pillow Queen."

"I practically had to draw you a map to find it, dear." Regina arched an eyebrow to go with her sass.

"I have a short finger span, it's hard to reach them at the same time. It isn't my fault that you're so complicated and you always want everything at once."

"Nor is it my fault that you basically have an on-off switch. Which is almost always in the 'on' position."

"Hey, asking me to not get turned on when you're around is like asking you to stop being sexy all the goddamn time. It's not gonna happen. I don't bother you when you're not into it. Sometimes I like time alone. I y'know, take care of myself."

"So I've heard."

Emma propped her hands on her hips and gave Regina an  _are-you-kidding-me_  glare. Was she for real? Or only playing it up for effect. Regina had obviously cottoned on to why some of her showers were a lot longer than others. She refused to be embarrassed though. But if Regina didn't like being excluded then why the hell hadn't she said anything before now? It wasn't like the Mayor didn't have any solo fun of her own, it was just that she was much better at not getting caught. Maybe ten years of parenthood teaches you that.

"You know what, Regina? Maybe it isn't me. Maybe  _you_ are the one that sucks at kissing."

"Let's see, shall we?" Regina gave her a wicked gleam and stepped right up close into Emma's space.

The Mayor tipped her chin up and captured her lips in a demanding kiss and damn if it wasn't what Emma had imagined happening thousands of times during their first year. Except that usually in her fantasies it was she who initiated it by going up to the Mayor's office and posturing in leather jacket and shiny gold badge. They'd have a heated discussion over something, either Henry or the running of the town, leaving them both riled up with tension. Regina wouldn't be able to hide how aroused their interactions made her, the intensity always showed in her darkened eyes. Emma would hold her gaze and put her hands up one of the uptight business skirts she always wore so that she could lift her by the thighs, eager to deposit her onto her desk so that she could have her way with her. In her fantasy Regina was indignant at first but soon overcome by desire, begging 'Sheriff Swan' to touch her...

Emma moaned softly, thinking of everything she wanted to do to her and wanting to take her over and over until she just couldn't come again. She pulled her closer and the deepened the kiss, hard and passionate, to which Regina responded with the same fervour. Clearly she wasn't the only one turned on by playing up one of their fights.

Reluctantly they broke the kiss for a break and to catch their breaths.

"That was amazing…" said Emma. "But was something supposed to happen. How will we know if it worked?"

"We'd know if we managed to do it." Regina absentmindedly licked her tongue across her tingling lower lip. "True Love's Kiss ought to be accompanied by something magical. If you have to ask, it didn't happen."

"This is getting ridiculous. Not that I don't love kissing you - but this was supposed to be the easy part of this plan compared to making the potion from scratch. We're running out of time and we're running out of ideas. We've had all day and still come up with nothing. I thought for sure the Middle-of-a-Fight kiss would work."

"That's what you said about all of the others," Regina pointed out wearily.

Emma sighed. "Alright, I hate to say it but-"

"No."

"But we have to. What else can we do?"

"I said  _NO_."

Emma her arms slap her sides in frustration. They were both feeling increasingly stressed by every attempt that didn't work and the pressure they were under. The Saviour thought that if anyone had told her that one day she'd have to save a town by kissing someone she would've laughed in their face. It wasn't so funny right now though.

"Come on, Regina. We have to figure out how to make this True Love's Kiss thingy work. We have to ask them."

Regina glared. "We are NOT going to ask your parents about kissing, Emma. I'd rather let the curse kill me. I refuse to suffer the humiliation of asking Tweedledum and Tweedledumber for magic advice."

"Okay, fine." Emma walked over to the couch and flopped into it. She made a show of crossing her arms and putting her boots on the coffee table in front (an infringement she knew the ever-proper queen hated with a passion). "Let's sit here and do nothing. That'll definitely solve all our problems."

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment, 5 minutes later_

"Where are the kids?" Emma asked her parents as soon as she and Regina poofed into the room.

"Henry's still at school," said Mary Margaret. "Ri went out to the stables for some fresh air and isn't back yet. Em wasn't feeling well so she's been upstairs in the bedroom all morning."

"Is Em alright?" Regina asked, glancing upstairs.

Emma dismissed her concern. "You know what she's like. Probably spend the whole day moping until Ri gets back."

David gestured for them to sit down while Mary Margaret flitted around the kitchen preparing tea for the visitors.

Emma had texted her mother saying they needed to talk to both her and David and surprisingly the reply was to come straight over. Mary Margaret's excuse for not being at school in the middle of the day was that she had come home to have lunch. Funnily enough that was David's excuse for not being at the Sheriff's station. Emma knew they were both lying but didn't want to think too hard about why.

"Why exactly are you two here?" said David.

Mary Margaret rushed to say, "Not that it isn't lovely to see you! But we were hoping to have lunch together. Well, anyway, what did you want to talk about?"

"We need to know how you guys did it," Emma mumbled, avoiding her parents' bewildered and curious stares. She and Regina were sitting across from them on separate armchairs. Well, Regina was perched as stiffly as a pile of boards and Emma was slouched trying to make herself as invisible as possible. Her parents didn't seem to be embarrassed in the slightest. Nor did they seem to know why their daughter and her girlfriend were asking these questions.

David's face was blank. "Did what?"

"I'm not sure I understand either," said Mary Margaret.

"For heaven's sake, you idiots." Regina lost her patience, extra annoyed at their stupidity. "Do not make us spell it out. True Love's Kiss!"

"Oh!" David eventually realised what they meant. "You want to hear our story? Let's see… Once upon a time Snow White ate a poisoned apple given to her by -  _ahem_  - an Evil Queen and she fell into an eternal sleep. I, Prince Charming, found her in the woods in a glass coffin built by the dwarves. We all thought she was gone forever. I wanted to give her one last kiss goodbye..."

"I felt Charming kiss me and then I woke up," finished Mary Margaret. "The end."

"That's it?" said Emma, unimpressed by the lack of detail. "How's that supposed to help us?"

"Maybe they're suggesting that I try to kill you, Emma," said Regina in a sickly sweet tone. "Mortal danger is a good premise for a love story I hear. I may not have any more poisoned fruit at hand but I'm sure I can arrange something to dispose of you."

"Thanks but no thanks," Emma deferred the offer. "I've had enough of you trying to kill me. Given the mood you're in at the moment you might accidentally succeed this time."

"Are you in a fight? It seems that way," said David, looking from one to the other. When their glares threatened to burn a hole through him he was quick to raise his hands in surrender. "Nevermind."

"I assume you have tried to kiss like you actually mean it?" asked Mary Margaret.

Emma muttered something explicit under her breath.  _They'd been kissing all morning!_

She could hardly let on how they'd made-up with each other last night by having multiple rounds of passionate sex. Regina would've gladly elaborated on the sinful acts she regularly performed on the Charmings's daughter if it weren't for Emma's embarrassment. Ever since the curse originally 'broke', Emma had been reluctant to acknowledge her sexuality with Mary Margaret despite the frequent girl-talk stories they'd shared previously about one-night stands with lecherous doctors (Mary's) and teenage entanglements with a Catholic schoolgirl (Emma's).

"We are not in a fight," Regina enunciated slowly. "This is how we always are."

"Who cares even if we are fighting," said Emma impatiently. "If we're each other's True Love then it shouldn't matter if we're fighting today because we're in love for a lifetime. We argued all the time when we first met but we were still attracted to each other. That's why the last one we tried was the Middle-of-a-fight kiss. We kinda amped it up to recreate the early days but that didn't do it either. None of them worked."

Mary Margaret tilted her head. "What do you mean 'none of them' worked?"

Regina reached into her coat pocket and retrieved a folded up piece of notepad paper. She opened it and passed it to Emma who passed it on to Mary Margaret. The schoolteacher scanned the list, which was hand-written in two different styles:

1\. Almost kiss

2\. Underwater kiss

3\. Kissing in a tree

4\. Accidental kiss

5\. Kissing upside down

…

74\. Middle-of-a-fight kiss

"You tried all seventy-four of these ideas?" said Mary Margaret, barely able to hide her amusement.

"Indeed we did." Regina shot daggers at the woman to her side. "Even the stupid ones. Those were the ideas Emma came up with."

Emma responded with a look of disbelief and ticked off her fingers one at a time. "Regina nearly drowned me in the bathtub, then she tried to throw me out of her tree, and she actually set me on fire at least once. That probably covers Mortal Danger. Her Majesty over there is so lethal that I'm in danger every second of every day when we're together."

"You were in no danger. I was in complete control at all times."

"Are you  _sure_?"

"Am I sure that I'm right and you're not? Yes."

Relishing in having the last word, Regina made a queenly show of ignoring Emma and turned back to the Charmings. "We need to know if there's anything about True Love's Kiss that we're missing."

Mary Margaret was quiet for a few moments, gathering her thoughts, until she said, "There is one thing I can think of. We had a false start once. True Love's Kiss didn't work."

"Really?" said Emma, surprised at the new information. "When was this."

"Not long after I first met your mother," said David. "Snow took an amnesia potion to forget me because I was already engaged to Princess Abigail. Without her full memories she was a changed person, she didn't know me, and the kiss didn't work the first time."

"What happened?"

"She hit me in the face. Again."

Mary Margaret ignored the jibe and turned to her husband. "Let's move on. Who else do we know who's done it? Ella and Thomas, Aurora and Philip, Eric and Ariel … There's a rumour that Maleficent had one with a girl in her youth but they didn't end up together. Something happened to her… I can't remember."

Regina rolled her eyes. "It was with a human. Mortals tend to die eventually."

Emma was confused. "I thought Gold said there'd never been a True Love pairing between two women before?"

"The identity of the human changes with each storyteller," Regina said, impatient to get off the subject. "You'll never get the truth out of Maleficent. She is as fond of propagating rumours as anyone. Regardless, this won't help us determine what the other stories had in common."

The group discussed every True Love coupling they'd ever heard of but there seemed to be no shared element that distinguished True Love's Kiss from an ordinary kiss between a couple who were deeply connected - except that it seemed to be a powerful plot device in all of the fairytales. It only seemed to happen at the right moment, exactly when it was necessary and there was no way to predict when that would be. True Love's Kiss never failed when it was truly needed.

"Great," said Emma sarcastically. "We still have no way of knowing how and when it'll work except that it will. But the only thing we shouldn't do is nothing because then it won't work at all."

"Maybe you need to think outside the box," suggested David.

Mary Margaret's face lit up. "That's exactly what I was thinking. Maybe True Love's Kiss isn't literally meant to be a kiss. It might be something symbolic or a selfless act of love. Or what about-"

David cleared his throat in warning. "Mary."

But his wife went on full-steam ahead. "Have you tried doing more than kissing?"

It wasn't easy to tell who among them was most uncomfortable with the turn this conversation had taken.

Emma felt her face go hot. "Are you talking about… oh, come on, you can't be serious! True Love's  _orgasm_? Is that even a thing?"

"No, but it might help," said Mary Margaret, enthusiastically. "Making love can really strengthen the emotional bond between a couple. Maybe if you focus on how much you love each other it'll bring out your magic. Seeing stars and fireworks, that sort of thing. Have you two ever managed to find release simultaneously? It's very special if you're compatible enough. Sometimes a different position can help but you really have to communicate. You can borrow my copy of the Kama Sutra if you want? Get limber. Get your oxytocin flowing. I know when David and I are having s-"

"Oh god, Mom,  _STOP_!" Emma interrupted, hastily throwing up her palms over her face and wishing the ground would open up and swallow her. "I swear to god I've never been so embarrassed in my entire life. Jesus fucking christ."

"Emma!" David growled. He pointed to the kitchen and she knew exactly what was coming. "A twenty in the Swear jar. Now."

The Sheriff of Storybrooke obeyed but grumbled about it the entire time. She stuffed a few notes inside a Mickey Mouse cookie jar which was already full of dollars (no doubt they'd all been Em's at some point). Without even seeing it she knew Regina had the same gloating look on her face that Ri had every time Em got chastised for bad language. How ironic that the Evil Queen had once been an insufferable goody-two-shoes and still was in some respects.

The Saviour trudged back to her seat. "I'm Emma, by the way, not Em. If the situation calls for it I'm old enough to swear,  _Dad_."

David raised his eyebrows. "Not at your mother. She was only trying to help."

"It's okay, David." Mary Margaret patted his arm, trying to signal to him to be less strict on their adult daughter. "I've heard worse from trolls. Now, about sex..."

Emma was ready to give up. "Is this what I've been missing out on all these years by not having parents? Maybe I should let Regina kill me. Preferably before I have to hear the rest of this conversation."

Mary Margaret chuckled. "Emma, honey, we might be your parents but we're also normal adults with a healthy sex life. How do you think you came into this world?"

"First time's the charm, my love." David put his arm around his wife and gave her a dopey romantic smile that was only half intended as a show for their daughter's benefit. It seemed he wasn't finished with punishing her yet. Apparently they could still embarrass her with the idea of her parents having sex even though she hadn't grown up in the same house as them.

"Ugh." Emma rolled her head on the back of the couch and pouted at Regina in what she hoped was an adorable way. "Kill me," she pleaded. "Please? Put me out of my misery."

"And leave me here alone to listen to them?" Regina huffed, incredulity written all over her face. "No, you're going to suffer along with me. I've already heard enough to justify making a sleeping curse for myself. I don't love you that much."

"You're lying," Emma smiled, wide and sweet. "You totally would sacrifice yourself for me."

"Not if I were the one trying to kill you."

"You're all talk, puppy monster."

"I've told you not to call me that," she hissed. It was a pet name Emma had used once as a joke and pulled it out every now and again when she wanted to poke at her. A fireball burst into flames in Regina's open palm as she glared malevolently at her former enemy/ now lover.

None of the Charmings had time to be alarmed because Emma calmly reached over the armrests to douse the fire with her own bare hand. The fireball fizzed out of existence leaving nothing but a tiny thread of smoke that curled in the air. The skin of Emma's hand seemed no worse for wear despite having been used to quell a fire.

"How did you do that?" said Mary Margaret, awed. She and David were the only ones surprised, they'd rarely seen their daughter use her strange magical abilities. Emma played her cards close to her chest and still nobody but her knew the true extent of her power.

"I've done it before," said Emma dismissively.

"You can cancel out Regina's magic?" said Mary Margaret. "That's interesting. What else can you do?"

"It doesn't matter ok! My powers are useless without hers."

The others were stunned into silence with her sudden outburst.

She knew they were only asking out of curiosity and because it was relevant to the town's current problems. But Emma was annoyed. She didn't want to have to explain her powers. She didn't know herself where they'd come from or why her magic sometimes manifested in her surroundings from time to time. The last thing she wanted was for them to examine her, or worse, fear that she would go off the handle and accidentally turn them to stone or something. Besides, Regina had years of strict training and she was skilled at magic. Whatever strange powers Emma possessed Regina's eclipsed them totally.

"We didn't mean to upset you, honey," said Mary Margaret gently, which only made her feel worse.

"It's fine." Emma tried to ignore the fact that they were still staring at her by changing the subject. "The point is that Regina and I have used our magic together before. We opened a portal to the Enchanted Forest with the Mad Hatter's Hat. We're only powerful together. That has to be the key. Mom, Dad, you have to tell me what we have to do to make this work."

David leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and gave her a supportive smile. "You'll know what to do when the time comes. We believe in you."

Emma stood up to go. "This is a waste of time. We'll never figure it out at this rate."

* * *

Usually it wasn't hard for a Fairy Godmother to locate one of her charges but getting to them to stay and listen to you was a trick even magic couldn't accomplish. Especially if they happened to be stubborn and used to getting their own way, as many Royals were.

In this case, the Swan-Mills Family Patron had no difficulty in locating the young Regina Mills at Storybrooke's stables but getting her to talk was proving to be a challenge. The girl was heading down the gravel path to the corral and dressed like she was here to go riding. If she left on a horse it could be hours before she returned.

Astrid called out several times to get her attention.

"Young Regina!" called Astrid. She ran a few steps to catch up but stumbled on the uneven rocks. "Wait, please. I need to talk to you."

Ri ignored her and kept walking.

"It's about your wish!"

The teenager stopped in her tracks and turned around, waiting until they were face to face. "What do you mean?"

"I heard you say 'I wish-'"

"Of course you did," said Ri, brows furrowed. "And ignored it like all of the others I suppose."

"No!" said Astrid, pleading with her eyes. "The Blue Fairy approved your application. Your wish will be granted."

Ri laughed without humour. "The Blue Fairy? You mean the same person who stripped me and my entire family of patronage and privileges forever? Mr Gold told me everything. He bribed her to frame my mother for the murder of our Patron fairy. She knew the truth the whole time."

"I-I don't know anything about that."

"I don't trust her. Besides, I have no wish anymore. Mr Gold stole it."

Astrid was horrified. "What! How?"

"He took the words right out of my mouth."

"Is that possible?"

Ri wiped something from her eye and sighed. "I don't know. But I'm sick of people meddling in my life! I'm sick of being a pawn in some masterplan of Rumpelstiltskin's and I hate living under the thumb of my mother even when I'm in another realm. I'm tired of being manipulated under the guise of help and of being fed lies by your kind, Astrid."

"Believe me, I am trying to help you-"

"Why," Ri said sarcastically. "Aren't you afraid I'll murder you? In case you haven't heard, I'm just like my mother."

"In your wish you asked to be sent home, to remember nothing of the painful things you learned here?"

"Yes, but I don't want that. Not if it means I'll forget Em and Henry and all of the good things as well. I was angry when I said it. Forget I ever asked for anything."

"I can't!" Astrid blurted out. "That's why I came to warn you. I'm bound in law to fulfil your wish now."

Ri smiled. "I'm the Queen, I am the law."

Alarmed by the flippant response Astrid shook her hands wildly. "No, no, no! You must understand. There are higher powers at work here, above and beyond mortal magic. Your wish cannot be stopped. It's already too late."

There was a flicker of fear noticeable in Ri's face before she could hide it.

_Finally_ , Astrid thought, she was beginning to get through to the girl about the implications of what was going to happen. As soon as the Blue Fairy had given her approval the fate of the wish had been sealed. Young Regina would be sent home to a miserable life of parental oppression and forced marriage with no memory of how wonderful her future would one day be.

When Ri realised that she only had minutes left in this world there was no telling what she would do.

"Hello there!" A tall handsome youth with a nice smile walked towards them. He was leading a bay-coloured stallion with a white blaze marking on its forehead.

Ri greeted him with familiarity so they must have met before at some point, most likely during a previous visit to the stables. She was drawn to the horse immediately and began stroking its nose and letting it smell her hands.

"I had a feeling I'd see you today," said the young man. "This is Quixote, he's new here. But don't let his name fool you. He calms down quite well after a chance to get moving."

"Oh, he looks just like my Rocinante," crooned Ri. "They could be twins!"

He winked. "Maybe."

"I'd love to take him out for a ride. May I?"

"Of course."

Quixote started moving his feet so Ri gave him some pats of reassurance. Only when the horse relaxed and sighed did she take the reins to lead him away. Astrid watched Ri communicating with the horse to earn his trust, and it was clear that she had experience with horses of a similar personality. She seemed truly in her element.

Astrid heard Ri whispering something to the horse. " _We're running out of time. If there's only one minute left I want to spend it with Em."_

Before she could ask the teen what she meant the handsome youth held out his hand to Astrid to introduce himself. "Hello, I'm Daniel, the stablehand."

Astrid accepted his hand with a nod in reply. Before she could give her name, her eye was caught when Ri swung herself into Quixote's saddle. The girl had hardly found her seat before urging the horse forward as they took off across the field.

"Wait, Regina!" cried Astrid, but it was useless. The pair were already on the other side of the green, heading for town.

"Let her go," said Daniel. "She knows what she's doing and Quixote knows the way home. He will get her to where she needs to be."

Astrid watched the bay-coloured spot racing towards the horizon, fearing she would never see its rider again. They had been friends for a time until duty came between them. Would Regina ever forgive her for casting a wish that the fairy didn't know was unwanted?

There was a vibration in her jeans pocket and it wasn't from her phone. Astrid pulled out the magic wand from its special pocket. Originally it had been a powerful wand belonging to the murdered patron of the Mills Family. Its whereabouts had been unknown until recently when it was "liberated" from one of Mr Gold's glass cabinets by Em Swan. Now it was Astrid's and having spent some time training with the magical device it was taking on a pink tinge, signifying its allegiance to her.

Astrid saw the wand begin to twinkle and shoot pink sharks. She could feel wish magic starting to channel through her body towards her casting hand. It was more power than she'd ever thought herself capable of grounding. If she managed it, no Fairy would ever sneer at her again and call her incompetent.

"There are more powerful things at work here than fairy magic," Daniel said from behind her.

The Pink Fairy turned around seconds later but there was no sign of the boy. It was as though he'd never been there at all. She didn't have long to consider what it meant though. Magic was demanding and if she didn't obey with her full attention violating Fairy Law would be the least of her concerns.

* * *

_Main Street, Storybrooke_

"Emma?" Regina's heels clicked on the sidewalk as she caught up to her girlfriend outside Mary Margaret's apartment where a dented yellow Volkswagen Beetle was parked. "What was that?"

"What was what."

"You just told your parents they were a waste of time. Not that I'm objecting ... but that's not like you."

Emma unlocked the passenger side door of the car, avoiding a pair of dark worried eyes. "I know. Sorry. I'll call them later to apologise for being a brat."

"The pressure of being the Saviour is getting to you," said Regina. It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, I guess." Emma exhaled.

They both stood by the car for a minute until Regina broke the silence with a grudging admission. "As loathe as I am to credit your parents with being useful they did tell us something about True Love's Kiss that only they would know."

"Which part?"

"That it doesn't always work, even if the couple is fated to be together."

_That was a really good point_ , Emma realised, and she chided herself for overlooking it.

Solving puzzles like this was not only her job as the Sheriff, but it had also been Emma's job as a bailbondsperson. It was what she was good at, putting the pieces together and finding connections between people that no-one else could see. It frustrated her now to be able to see the pieces without understanding what it would look like when they all fit together in the end. She had to get back to basics, start with the facts and work her way up from there.

"Okay," said the Sheriff. "Let's assume for a second that the problem isn't that we're not each others' True Loves, let's assume the kiss isn't working for us right now for some reason."

"Okay," Regina said in a tone that indicated she was wondering where she was going with this.

"Why. What are we missing," Emma mused aloud. "The one time it didn't work for my parents was when Snow took the amnesia potion, because she lost all her memories of Prince Charming. She didn't remember falling in love with him, she didn't remember meeting him at all … Hey, what if our kiss isn't working because there's something we don't remember?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno. Our first meeting? Falling in love?"

Regina huffed. "Just because you apparently have a bad memory doesn't mean that I do. I remember the day we met perfectly well. It's seared into my mind as one of the worst days of my life. It was the day you turned up on my porch to take back my son and ruin everything I'd worked so hard for. I offered you one drink and you ended up in the drunk tank after crashing your car."

"That's not how it happened."

"Excuse me. It most definitely was."

"You're forgetting one thing," said Emma with a growing smile. "That wasn't the first time we met, it was the second time. We met for the first time as realm-jumping, time-travelling teenagers. The first time we fell in love was when I was Em and you were Ri. We're childhood sweethearts."

Regina's head formed a slow nod. "I suppose you are right."

"Hey, it does happen sometimes."

"But we don't have those memories, only Em and Ri do, and we don't know why you and I are missing that piece of our past."

"We need to ask the girls exactly how it happened. There must be something they know that we don't and it's stopping us from activating the potion with True Love's kiss. Maybe they can help us figure this out."

With that realisation came hope for their situation and the two women smiled at each other with real smiles for the first time all day. They now had something to go on at least. All they had to do was get their younger selves together and get them to divulge their secrets.

Emma's phone beeped with a new message and she swiped the screen to check. "Oh god, what now," she complained. She made a face when she read the text.

"Who is it," asked Regina.

"Leroy," Emma rolled her eyes. "Probably drunk as usual. He says: 'The town is shrinking'. Well, duh. As if I need reminding about the stupid border and people losing their memories."

Regina leaned over to read it over her shoulder and frowned. "No, it says 'sinking', not shrinking."

"Probably just a typo."

_BOOOOM!_

Out of nowhere the sound thumped through the air. The percussive force of it rattled their ribcages and shook the windows of all shops in the vicinity. It set nearby car alarms off, all of which began stammering out their warnings as they competed with one another for attention.

Emma threw her arm around Regina out of protective instinct and ducked her head just in case. When she rose first she looked around for physical threats and then checked to see if Regina was ok. She appeared to be uninjured although she was clearly in shock from the strange occurrence.

"What the hell was that?" cried Emma.

Regina replied, "Magic," and blew a lock of hair that had fallen into her face.

"I know that much _._  But what caused it and why?"

Emma watched Regina's face carefully, noting the way she was looking around. She'd seen her do this before. The former queen was mentally searching the area for traces of curses or spells that might have done this. Magic always left traces and Regina was skilled enough to recognise them. When she visibly froze, Emma knew at once that she'd realised what'd happened.

"Hey, what is it? Regina?"

"Someone just left Storybrooke," said Regina, and looked at her like it was the first time she'd seen her face in decades.


	66. One-horse town

_Storybrooke Elementary_

Henry was sitting alone in the playground at lunchtime and he wasn't the only one today. Finding out that his new friend Jenna Meadows had lost her memories the night before and didn't remember him was too disheartening, and even though her brothers invited him to join in at basketball Henry declined.

Another fifth-grader was sitting by himself at the foot of a nearby oak tree. He was a much stouter boy with had a sour frown on his face. He was stabbing at the ground with a stick. This boy was a renowned bully and though nobody wanted to play with him it was unusual to see him set apart from other children who usually were either conscripted as his cronies or his victims.

Despite his instinct to leave well-enough alone, Henry got up and went over to him. "Hey, Ethan."

Ethan Gander scowled and threw the stick away. "What do you want, loser."

"I wanted to say I'm sorry about your Grandma."

New travelled fast in small towns like Storybrooke and never so fast as news of the Principal's hospitalisation did among the pupils of the school where she worked. Each class had been instructed to make 'Get Well' cards by their teachers (some of whom had a hard time hiding their delight at their boss's absence). The students were even more relieved that they were out of disciplinary range of the school's strictest teacher.

As unlikeable as Principal Gander and her grandson were, Henry felt sorry for Ethan since she was his only relative. He knew what it was like to love someone in a powerful position whom the entire town hated. Nobody had wanted to be friends with the Evil Queen's kid either when the curse had been revealed.

Ethan seemed surprised by his condolences at first and then became sullen. "Whatever," he mumbled. "I hate living with her anyway. You don't know what it's like. My life sucks."

"Who are you staying with?" said Henry.

"Mrs Little, a friend of Gran's. She's old and smells like mothballs and she doesn't even have a TV. I wish I could stay with my sister but Gran would never let me."

"Where's your sister?"

Ethan shrugged. "Don't know. She's grown up. She used to live with us until a year ago. Gran kicked her out because she was hanging around with weirdos. I wasn't allowed to see her after that."

"But family's supposed to stick together," said Henry. "Maybe if you tried to find her she'd realise you want to live with her. When I found Emma, my other Mom, she wanted to-"

"No!" Ethan spat angrily. He raised his bulky form off the ground so that he could talk down to the shorter boy. "What's it to you anyway? Just because your Moms are dykes doesn't mean my sister is. Not everyone's like  _your_  family."

Before Henry could explain or apologise the taller boy shoved him to the ground and stalked away.

Henry was left wondering what it was that he'd said. Sometimes there didn't need to be a reason for a bully to act out, but Ethan had been the one to bring up weirdos and dykes. He'd heard the words before though nobody had called his Moms such names to his face before. It kinda hurt.

Mrs Gander had been hostile to him and his mothers. Maybe Ethan had picked it up from her. Or maybe the reason for her hatred was more personal than anyone knew. What had Ethan meant about his sister?

"Hey, are you ok?" said a girl's voice, breaking into his thoughts.

Henry looked up to see Jenna Meadows standing over him, blocking the bright sun behind her. As usual her blonde hair was tied in two plaits. Her face was fierce and her posture was impeccable, as though she was ready for a karate competition that might suddenly arise in the playground. There was no flicker of recognition of their recently formed friendship at all.

"You're Henry Mills," said the schoolgirl. "The Mayor's son. Aren't you?"

Henry tried to hide his disappointment. "Yeah."

"Good," Jenna nodded. "I need you to be my alibi."

* * *

The Mayor and the Sheriff ran down the street on foot towards the commotion.

The strange sonic-boom heard and felt in Storybrooke Main Street resulted in a car accident. There were cars stopped in the middle of the road at strange angles and a crowd was gathering. The wailing of fire engine sirens increased in pitch as they neared, and soon enough there were flashes of red light bouncing off the shopfront windows.

"How do you know somebody left Storybrooke?" said Emma, puffing. She slowed to a fast stride as they neared.

"Nobody can leave Storybrooke" Regina contradicted her. "It was part of the Curse. I made it so that nobody could leave."

"But you think somebody did succeed and that's what caused the noise?"

"Yes."

"Henry used to say something bad always happens when someone tries to leave Storybrooke. Like what happened to Ashley. She crashed Ruby's car at the border. But we're in the middle of town. How could someone have left Storybrooke from here?"

"I'm not sure," said Regina, as she searched the area ahead. "But there are traces of magic everywhere."

When they reached the intersection they saw that the cars in the middle of the road hadn't stopped, it looked like they had crashed to avoid something. The drivers were sitting on the asphalt receiving first aid from paramedics but it appeared that nobody was seriously injured. No humans that was.

One of the drivers was shaking his head and crying as he explained to a fireman what had happened.

"I didn't even see him until it was too late," the man said, clearly distraught.

Emma pulled out her Sheriff's badge and urged the bystanders to step back from the mangled cars all the way to the sidewalk. One of the paramedics, a young man in a dark blue uniform, came over to report the circumstances of the crash.

"Three car MVA," said the medic. "Two female drivers both have minor injuries, cuts and bruises that sort of thing. A three year old passenger was uninjured and is with his mother. One male driver with suspected facial fractures. Hit his head on the steering wheel, no airbag. "

Emma nodded grimly. "What caused the crash?"

The paramedic pointed over to the crowd of onlookers. "The blue sedan swerved to avoid hitting it and ended up collecting the other two. Driver's pretty upset but it looks like an accident. We put a call in. The vet says there's nothing they can do."

"The vet?" echoed Emma.

Regina ran forward and pushed her way through the crowd.

Lying on the road was a brown horse with a white diamond on its nose. There was blood on its thigh and one of its hind legs was twisted at a sickening angle near the knee joint. Emma didn't know much about horses but even he could see that this one was badly injured.

Regina was knelt by the prone form, heedless of the windshield glass on the asphalt. She was stroking the horse's neck and whispering to it. The poor animal was lying there making snuffling noises. Its eyes were wide with panic.

"How bad is it?" Emma asked as she crouched beside her.

"Both his hind legs are broken," Regina said in a thick voice. "I'm so sorry."

The same paramedic came back to introduce Emma to the vet, who had come from the nearby Storybrooke Pet Shelter where David had formerly worked. The vet explained to her that the animal's injuries were catastrophic and he advised euthanasia as soon as possible. Emma realised that Regina, having grown up with horses, must've known that on sight.

The Sheriff organised the area to be screened from the bystanders, then she spoke to the medics and firemen again. By that time, Michael the local mechanic had arrived with his tow truck to clear away the cars.

Emma returned to Regina who was still trying to comfort the horse. The vet signalled with a nod that they were ready.

"Regina? Come on, baby," she whispered. "He's in pain. We have to step back and let them do their jobs."

Regina's face was ashen and apparently she didn't even notice Emma's using a term of endearment she normally objected to. She allowed herself to be led away, which Emma did, keeping her arm around her. They were halfway to Granny's Diner when they heard the shot.

* * *

"Hey, stop," said Henry, standing near the school bike racks. "Where you are going."

Jenna's face flashed with annoyance as she freed her bike from its lock. She quickly looked around to see if there were any teachers within sight. Technically the area with the bike stands was out of bounds and if they were caught here they'd surely get detention. Worse - she'd be stuck in school for the rest of the afternoon until hometime and miss her chance. Her parents wouldn't let this slide like they had the last time, when she'd been found on the other side of town by the Sheriff.

"If you're leaving school grounds I'm coming with you," Henry declared.

"No," said the exasperated girl. "You can't be my alibi if you're with me. I thought you were supposed to be smart."

"I am smart," retorted Henry. "Which is why I can help with whatever you're up to."

"I heard you talking to Ethan. He didn't tell you anything useful. He doesn't know where she is either."

"Huh?"

"Just stay here and don't say anything," ordered Jenna, deadly serious. "If anyone asks later tell them I was with you in the quad at lunch ok. The teachers will believe whatever you say because they're scared of your Mom. The last thing they'll want to do is call her up to the school."

Henry bristled at the mention of Regina in that way. "You want me to lie. Why should I cover for you?"

"Because you're a nerd who doesn't have any friends. I'll be your friend if you'll be my alibi. I'll even sit with you at lunch sometimes so you don't look like you're alone."

_Ouch._ Henry winced. Jenna wasn't pulling any punches. Her fairy tale self hadn't been this blunt.

"Look," Jenna sighed, seeing that he was slightly offended. "I don't have time to explain. But I have to go to the hospital to find out where Principal Gander's room is."

"Why do you want to go see Mrs Gander?"

"It's not her I want to see."

That answer peaked Henry's curiosity further. "Then who?"

Jenna placed her helmet on her blonde head and clipped the strap under her chin with a snap. "Are you going to tell on me or not?"

"Not if you let me come with you."

"You are so annoying!" Jenna let out a frustrated groan. "I suppose if I say no you'll just come anyway."

Her eyes fell on a black and silver BMX that was securely chained next to where hers had been. It had a standard combination lock with four settings (the same as hers). Her father had bought the locks for all of the kids' bikes after the twins had their Christmas presents stolen one year. He had told her that no-one would be able to break it unless they had boltcutters with them.

The little girl grinned in triumph at her own clever idea. "Ok Henry. You can come...  _if_  you can guess the code for my brother's bike. You've got a one in a million chance."

"One in ten-thousand," Henry corrected automatically.

Jenna's eyes narrowed. "You've got three seconds. Otherwise I'm leaving without you."

Henry was dying to gloat but kept it inside. He knelt beside the bike and pretended to fiddle with the combinations. He could tell that Jenna was sure he'd never guess the combo and couldn't wait to prove her wrong. He wasn't sure exactly why but for some reason it was important to win.

" _Alohomora_ ," whispered Henry, as he waved his hand over the lock. It was an easy piece of magic that Mr Gold had taught him ages ago.

Of course, saying the spell name from Harry Potter was irrelevant but it sounded impressive, and judging by the jaw-drop expression on Jenna's face it had the desired effect. She'd lost her memories so she no longer remembered anything about magic or the fact that one of her schoolmates was nearly suspended for having magical powers. To her it seemed that he'd cracked the lock in a purely mortal fashion.

"How did you do that?" cried Jenna.

Henry's shrug was full of fake modesty. He grinned as he snapped the clasp of the borrowed helmet under his chin. "Must've been a lucky guess. Now can we go?"

* * *

_Granny's diner_

Ruby placed the two cups on the table, a hot chocolate with cinnamon for Emma and a latte in front of Regina. They'd just arrived and taken a booth in the back of the diner for some privacy. The slender waitress had brought over their usual beverages without having taken their orders first.

"Thanks, Ruby," said Emma.

"Let me know if you guys need anything." Ruby's red-painted lips smiled and then she left them to it.

It was odd. The Storybrookers were getting on with their day already, the sonic boom was apparently just another strange event in a strange town. The general public's idle curiosity faded fast here when their lives were not being immediately threatened. Some of the bystanders to the car accident had come into the diner as well but the rest returned to their homes or workplaces as normal.

Emma attempted to break the silence. "You want me to put sugar in it for you?"

"I'm fine," said Regina. She wrapped her hands around the cup as though she'd only just noticed it.

"How about some vodka?"

"Idiot." It came out far more affectionate than critical though. Regina rolled her eyes at the joke but couldn't help a small smile. They were sitting side-by-side, which Emma had obviously planned so that she could rest her spare hand on a certain black skirt-clad thigh. It was a much-needed gesture of comfort.

"You alright? That was a pretty confronting scene back there."

Regina sighed. "I've stood upon hillsides covered in corpses. I've witnessed war and violence and medieval poverty. I've done all manner of awful things myself. I'm familiar with confronting scenes."

"Yeah, but you have a thing for horses."

"I grew up on an estate. This was hardly the first time I've seen an animal euthanised. It was the best course of action. He would have had a slow painful death otherwise."

"You're allowed to be upset you know. No matter what else you've seen and done."

Seeing that Regina wasn't clamming up for once, Emma encouraged her to talk about what she was feeling in more detail. She said the reason she was so affected by the scene was because the injured horse resembled her childhood steed. The former queen admitted that the sight brought back a flood of guilt. Right now it was as fresh in her mind as the day Rocinante was killed by her own hand. His sacrifice in the Curse had brought her the happy ending she was now living for. It was hard to be happy when harbouring so much guilt. But Emma reassured her as she had done many times before that it was natural to feel that way, and in fact, it was a sign that she'd changed.

They'd talked things over like this before but right now Regina seemed to need extra reassurance. It was rare that her confidence faltered outwardly but Emma was more concerned with being there for her than questioning it.

When the conversation lulled Emma returned to the facts of the case in her mind. It seemed odd that a horse had caused a car accident seconds after there'd been a strange sonic boom they'd yet to find an explanation for. It was an unlikely coincidence. Something magical had happened ... but what?

Emma frowned in thought. "What was a horse doing in the middle of town anyway?"

Regina took a sip and then looked up from her mug. "I know who it was that tried to leave Storybrooke."

"Who? and why you think the two events are connected?"

"It was Ri."

"What?!" cried Emma. All eyes in the diner turned to her so she lowered her voice. "Why do you think it was her?"

"The horse we saw was saddled but riderless, he looked just like my Rocinante, and we're miles from the nearest stables. If she was riding at the time she disappeared that may be why he was here. He likely bolted into traffic at the shock of the noise."

"Yeah, Mary Margaret did say that Ri went to the stables this morning. She must've been heading back. So where is she now if she's left Storybrooke?"

"Gone back to the past."

"But - but she can't be  _gone_ …" Emma struggled for words. "Just like that!"

Emma had to accept that the theory made a lot of sense but she couldn't believe Ri was finally gone. They'd all grown so used to having her around it seemed impossible that the teenager could be gone out of their lives in an instant. She hadn't gotten a chance to say goodbye or anything. There were things she still needed to tell her, things she needed to make sure the young girl knew.

"Wait a sec," said Emma. "How can you be sure?"

Regina slipped a hand inside her blazer and retrieved her pocket mirror. "Show me Ri Mills," she commanded. The reflection didn't change, only her own face was showing.

"That doesn't prove anything."

Regina raised an eyebrow at her skepticism. "Aren't you supposed to have some sort of 'awesome' magical ability to find people? Use your magic then if you don't believe mine."

The Saviour concentrated on their surroundings and reached out with her powers to try to locate the missing girl. Previously she'd been able to feel two Regina's, whereas now there was only one pinging her radar. Her powers weren't infallible but it certainly felt plausible. Ri was no longer in Storybrooke. Either she was very far away or-

_Oh god!_  If poor little Ri had gone back to the past, she'd returned to her controlling mother and a soon-to-be arranged marriage to a man old enough to be her father and everything that entailed. The young girl was facing a future of pain and darkness as the Evil Queen. Emma had this irrational desire to reach into the past and rescue her to keep her safe.  _Argh, why did she have to go back at all!_

Ruby came over to chat under the pretense of asking if either of them needed a refill. She slid a plate with a couple of vanilla biscotti on it towards Regina. When Emma tried to steal one the pretty waitress slapped the back of her hand.

"Those aren't for you," said Ruby.

"Hey, how come I don't get any?" complained Emma.

"Because," said Ruby, flirtatiously. "These are the last ones and they're Baby Regina's favourite. So I figured the Mayor probably likes them too."

It was a correct assumption; Regina was already nibbling on a biscotti. She looked… cuter than usual. There was more going on behind those gorgeous brown eyes than she was letting on. Emma's gut told her there was something she was missing right now but she couldn't figure out what.

"Rubes," said Emma. "Can you do us a favour?"

"Sure."

"Can you use your wolf scent to find Ri? She's been missing ever since she went riding this morning and never came back. We need to know for sure if she's anywhere in Storybrooke, but we think she's gone back to the past somehow."

Ruby nodded and offered a smile. "I'll have a sniff around after work."

"Thanks."

Emma tried to remember the last time she'd seen Ri and failed. It felt like forever ago and now she'd never see her again.

"Hey, cheer up, Emma." Just before Ruby left for the kitchen she tipped her head towards Regina to make her point. "Ri's still with us. Kinda."

_I suppose that's true,_  thought Emma. 'Ri' was sitting right next to her, as her older self.

Ri had gone back to being a part of Regina's past where she supposedly belonged.

Maybe that was the reason why Ri had to go back because she had to experience her past in order to become her future - to become this beautiful, amazing, strong woman who had been through so much and still worked so hard for her chance at a happy ending. She wouldn't be the same person without her past. Her future was built upon it.

Emma stared as Regina's tongue darted between her lips to lick away some biscotti crumbs.

"I love you," Emma blurted out.

Somehow Regina managed to keep a straight face. "Yes, dear, and I find you tolerable and occasionally useful."

"I hope Ri knew how much we all loved her."

"I suppose she did."

Emma didn't what to make of Regina's casual reaction to the news that her younger self had time-traveled back to the past. She wasn't sure what she would've expected but the former queen had taken the knowledge in stride and was already focusing on how they were going to move forward with saving the town. Regina didn't seem bothered by losing her young self at all. In fact, the part of the event that had most upset her had been the death of the horse.

Apparently Regina was doing some thinking of her own. "Remember when we went looking for the border and it jumped at me because it thought I was trying to leave?"

"Yeah."

"It must be close to town now. If so, more people are going to lose their memories which means we have to act fast. We need to figure out how to get the potion to work."

"But with Ri gone," Emma realised with growing worry. "There's only one person who knows exactly how we fell in love. We need those memories. What if whatever happened to Ri happens to Em too? We have to get to her before she disappears. But what are we going to tell her about Ri being gone?"

"We won't tell her." Regina shook her head and averted her eyes. "It'll break her heart to be here alone. Wouldn't it break yours?"

Emma was silent but she had to admit that the answer was 'Yes'.

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment_

David was washing up in the bathroom when his wife appeared in the doorway. He raised his eyes to the mirror and smiled, until he noticed that she seemed pensive about something. He recognised that look on her face, it was the same one she got when she had a secret she was trying to hold back. Before he could ask she came out with it herself.

"Do you think we should have told Emma?" said Mary Margaret, wrapping her arms across her middle.

"Told Emma what?" said David.

"About Mrs Gander being hospitalised and identifying Em as her attacker."

David toweled his hands dry and sighed. "I don't see what good it would do. Emma's got enough on her plate right now."

"True. I only wish we could be more help."

It was frustrating to see their daughter struggling with all the responsibilities that had been heaped on her. The pressure of being the Sheriff, of being the Saviour, and of taking care of the family she'd acquired only recently had to be taking its toll on her. Mary Margaret had been the one to tell Emma in no uncertain terms to grow up and stop procrastinating about everything, though it'd killed David to see it. He had this fatherly urge to jump in and scoop her up and take care of everything for her. But this time he couldn't. This was something that she had to figure out for herself.

Nothing would stop him constantly worrying about his daughter though.

Mary Margaret was asking him what they should do about Em. David felt as though he was procrastinating in the very manner that Emma was reprimanded for. He knew he ought to investigate Mrs Gander's accusations - she was a victim after all - but his need to protect his teenage daughter was stronger than his sense of duty.

"How are we going to deal with Em?" said Mary Margaret.

"As Deputy Sheriff I know I should question her," David admitted. "As her father I need her to explain what happened last night. But I don't want it to sound like I'm accusing her of anything."

"That'll be difficult. Em is quick on the defensive because she thinks everyone is against her and always accusing her of things she didn't do."

"This is more serious than her usual teenage mischief. It's my job to be impartial here but I can't. I don't care what the old woman says. I just can't believe that Em would've assaulted her. Breaking in? - yes; arguing? - very yes; but she wouldn't hurt anyone. She's a good kid at heart."

"Then who did do it?"

David hesitated before speculating. "There was only one other person there that we know of."

Mary Margaret looked skeptical. "Are you really saying you think Ri is capable of hurting an old lady?"

"I don't know. Maybe?" He left the truth they both knew unspoken: the older Regina certainly was capable of it.

"Why would Mrs Gander lie and say it was Em?"

"Maybe she was mistaken."

The phone in Mary Margaret's skirt pocket began to ring with a Disney song. " _Someday my prince will come…"_

"I'll just take this call," said Mary Margaret, after a shifty glance at the caller's name on the screen. "Then I'll go see if Em's awake and whether she's feeling up to talking."

David nodded as his wife left the bathroom to answer the phone.

In his mind he went back over his interaction with Ri early that morning. There was nothing in her behaviour that indicated guilt - except for the fact that she'd gone off on her own and hadn't come back yet. Ri had dodged the question as to the girls' whereabouts last night, without confirming that they'd been near the Principal's residence at all. If Gander was telling the truth why was Ri lying? Was she lying to protect herself or to protect Em? What would the girls have been doing there in the first place?

After talking with Em they would have to ask Ri for her version of events as well. Before the teens had a chance to close ranks and get their stories straight. David was certain that they would protect each other and lie if they had to. They'd done it before.

After barely being a minute gone, a pixie-haired brunette nearly collided with him in the doorway when she came back.

"David, we have a problem," said Mary Margaret seriously. "That was the Blue Fairy on the phone."

"Haven't heard from her in a while," David pointed out.

"She's demanding that Em be brought to her for questioning about the assault of her friend. Apparently Ri told her that it was Em's idea to break in and steal some jewelry, watches, and other valuables. Blue said that Ri came to her with her story because she wanted to do what was best for Em - "

"That doesn't sound like Ri."

"I know, but that's not the worst of it -" Mary Margaret's eyes teared up before she revealed Blue's final piece of news. "Mrs Gander died this morning."


	67. Sleeping beauty

As a clumsy person Astrid was well-acquainted with the ground. When the fairy opened her eyes and tried to sit up her head began to spin. It felt as though her brain was jostling about in her skull. Each movement, even looking around, made it worse so she limited herself to moving only in small slow stages and keeping her head at the same altitude.

The green paddocks and smell of horse manure testified that she was still at the stables. The last thing she remembered was a massive surge of magic within her before she blacked out.

Regina's wish...

Astrid's magic wand was lying in the grass a few feet away. It was no longer sparkling and had lost its pink colour, instead it looked grey as if the magic had been drained out of it. Her head protested in pain when she leaned over to grasp it. The effort drained her. She stopped to rest and close her eyes. The wand was cool to the touch and lay dead in her fingers.

"Are you alright there, miss?"

A middle-aged man with greying blond hair and a kind face full of weather lines stooped down to give her a hand up off of the ground. He pulled her to her feet with a groan. "There we go. Up y'get. Oops, don't fall now."

Astrid wobbled a bit on her feet and steadied herself on his arm. "Thank you, Sir. You're very kind."

The man tipped his hat to her. "Mike Meadows, co-owner of Storybrooke's Fable Stables, at your service. Are you ill?"

"No, I must've fainted," said Astrid, by way of explanation for her ending up lying unconscious on the ground. She slid her wand into its special pocket of her jeans, though it hardly mattered anymore if anyone saw it. It looked more like a stick than anything magical now.

"If there's anything I can do please don't hesitate to ask."

"Yes, there is actually," said Astrid, as the image filled her mind. "There was a young man working here. Tall with brown hair, maybe 20 years old or late teens. The stable boy. I need to speak with him. Where is he?"

Mike's grey eyebrows knitted into a frown. "There must be some mistake, miss. All the grooms and riding instructors here happen to be women at the moment. I have a few gents come in for equine therapy group but not one of them's spry enough to be called a boy."

Hearing that the stable boy possibly never existed only added to Astrid's confusion. Whoever the young man was he had no official connection to the stables though he certainly acted as though he was employed there. But why? The only clue was that he knew Regina. He said he knew her.

He also said his name was Daniel. Wasn't that the name of THE stable boy? The one from the other land who had worked on the Mills family estate? The one who, in the original narrative, had been the young Regina's first love and had been killed to make way for her to marry the King, Snow White's father?

Throughout the Evil Queen's reign little was known to her subjects of her past and the hows and whys of how she ended up darkening the throne. Certain people in Storybrooke were now privy to some of it. No matter the other factors and manipulators who were involved in engineering Regina's fate, it was an unarguable fact that Daniel's death had been a catalysing moment in her life.

Maybe someone was playing a cruel prank on Astrid's young charge, Ri, and pretending to be Daniel. If so it was very cruel indeed.

How else could a boy from the older Regina's past turn up in the younger one's future? Astrid felt she was sending her brain round in circles trying to figure this out. It left her uneasy to consider other possibilities though. The kind that involved something higher than the fairy magic she was just beginning to understand. Something very strange was happening in Storybrooke.

"Do you want me to call someone for you?" said Mike. "You're welcome to go wait up at the house until you're feeling better. My partner, Peter, is in the kitchen renovating."

"I'm fine, but I have to go."

Astrid thanked Mike the stables owner again and said goodbye. She set a brisk pace up the gravel driveway towards the main road that edged past the property. Her earlier dizziness on top of ever-present clumsiness meant she slipped about five times in the process of it. She ended up puffing the whole way, lamenting her own lack of fitness.

Someone was waiting for her at the end of the drive, the scariest figure of her former life as an initiate and her new life as a trainee Fairy Godmother. That someone was wearing a dour navy outfit, a gold cross and a frown.

The lady bowed a formal greeting. "Pink."

"Blue!" Astrid said in shock. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"You failed."

"But I - … I fulfilled Regina's wish."

"You sent someone back to the past. Was it the princess? Did you send her home like I instructed you to?"

"I tried-"

"I know full well you did not do what I asked, even if the Charmings weren't currently trying to hide her. I can tell you did not adequately ground yourself for the level of magic required to fulfill a wish like this. The stench of magical incompetence is hanging in the air like a bad cooking smell. In any case this is about more than just a Royal wish. Returning only one of the travelers back does not ensure the future of Storybrooke."

Astrid was confused. "I sent young Regina back with no memories except to remember that she must cast the curse - that's what she wished for. Storybrooke will exist."

"No. I meant the real princess. Not Regina, the daughter of a disgraced prince and an evil sorceress who ought to have been sent back anyway. This has gone beyond trying to prevent her from taking to the throne. It had to have been both of them returned or neither. That's why I told you to send Princess Emma home too."

"Wha-?"

"There can be no future without the Saviour, Pink!" said Blue, about to lose her patience. "Right now in the past the Evil Queen is creating this town for the family she doesn't remember; the only thing she knows is that the Dark Curse will bring her a happy ending. But she has no family on the way - not yet. Not unless the younger Emma Swan goes back to where she came from. Otherwise her son Henry will never be born. If Henry is never born there will be no-one to bring his mothers together in the first place, there will be no reason for the Queen to reform herself and no Savior to help. Don't you see? The Storybrooke under our feet will exist without ever having existed. The past and the future are the same. Do you have any idea what happens when a time paradox is created?"

"N-no?" Astrid squeaked.

"I'm taking you offline until your performance can be evaluated. I must go now and clean up your mess. Otherwise the consequences could be catastrophic."

"There's something else I need to tell you. There was a-"

"It can wait." The Blue Fairy cut her off. "If you try to warn the Royals or contact them about what we've discussed I'll have your wings for it. Permanently."

* * *

 

_Mary Margaret's apartment_

Storybrooke's lone Deputy Sheriff raced up the creaky wooden stairs to the loft's second floor. His wife was calling from the bedroom where their teenage daughter was supposed to have been sleeping. That alone caused him to leap into action.

"David, it's Em. Look," said a worried Mary Margaret as soon as he entered. She was leaning over the sleeping form of a blonde teenager on the bed. Em was still wearing her clothes from yesterday. Her small body was tangled up in the patchwork blanket as if she'd been tossing and turning. She was still sleeping despite their talking at normal volume in the room.

"She won't wake up."

David went to her and laid a hand on Em's head. She looked truly angelic when asleep, there was no hint of how much trouble she could cause when awake. "Is she alright?"

"I think she's just knocked out. I found these." Mary Margaret picked up a foil pill packet from the side table. "Sleeping tablets."

David snatched the packet and noted that there were two pills missing. "Where did she get these?"

Mary Margaret sighed. "From me." At David's look of shock she explained. "I didn't give them to her! I think she took them from my medicine cabinet. Do you remember when the girls first arrived and Emma warned us about Em, she said not to let her near any drugs. I thought she was exaggerating."

"Damn," David exhaled and assessed his daughter again. "She's only taken two?"

"Yes, I think so. The packet was from an old prescription of mine that I got while I was volunteering night shift at the hospital and having trouble sleeping. But I never took any. There's only two popped out. She's breathing ok and seems fine so I don't think it's an overdose. But it was probably too much for her little body."

"Is it safe for ... you know, the baby?"

"I don't know, I don't know!" Mary Margaret's fears were starting to get the best of her. "Oh, my poor girl. This is all my fault. Why would she do this, David? If she was having trouble sleeping last night why didn't she come to me?"

"Mary, we'll figure that out later. First she needs to be checked out. Call Dr Whale. Tell him to meet me."

His wife already had her phone in her hand, scrolling through her contacts list. "Where will you be?"

"I'm going to take her to the Station until she recovers. The Blue Fairy wants to confront Em and accuse her of the assault. We can't let that woman see her in this state."

"Yes," Mary Margaret nodded. "You have to take her. David, you have to take our baby."

David started wrapping Em up like she was a burrito. He tucked her long blonde hair into the blanket and left her silver Converse shoes poking out of the bottom. Even the motion and jostling didn't wake her. If only keeping her protected from the world was as easy as keeping her warm.

He lifted her into his arms as though she weighed no more than she had the day she was born.

David bent to give his wife a quick kiss and then Mary Margaret leaned over to place a kiss on her daughter's pale forehead. She picked up Em's thick black-framed glasses from the side table, folded them, and then tucked them inside the pocket of the teenager's shirt.

"Goodbye, Em," she whispered. "See you soon."

* * *

 

_Storybrooke General Hospital_

It took the kids about half an hour to ride to the hospital. Once there, Jenna jumped off her bike, motioned for Henry to do likewise, and then she locked both bikes together next to a steel sign that warned: 'No parking. Ambulance Only'.

Henry looked ahead at the automatic doors and the red-and-white sign above that indicated the way to the Emergency Department. He had a strange feeling about it. The last time he'd been here was when he'd nearly died. One of his mothers had accidentally poisoned him and the other had unknowingly saved him. That day the curse was not broken but damaged.

Both Emma and Regina had professed their love for him that day. The latter had declared it tearfully before fleeing (she must've expected to be lynched on the spot) and the former had said the words for the first time. It had been surreal. The doctors came and pronounced him alive and likely to remain that way, a nurse brought him his clothes, and they'd let Henry leave with his birth mother out of the very doors he was in front of now.

"Let's go," said Jenna, squaring her shoulders as the two pre-teens entered the hospital. It was a daunting place.

Inside Henry pointed to the overhead signage. "We need to go that way. Mrs Gander will be in ICU." The same as I was.

But unlike Henry's time in hospital, Mrs Gander was suffering from a known non-magical affliction and was under the care of doctors who were expert at treating such things.

The ICU was quieter than the rest of the hospital. More solemn. Henry stepped ahead of Jenna and went up to the Ward Nurses' station. He waited patiently until the nurse there finished what she was writing down in a medical chart and noticed him.

"Can I help you?" The nurse's smile was drawn and bland.

"We're looking for someone," said Henry. "Which room is Mrs Lucy Gander in, please."

The nurse checked her clipboard and then sized up the ages of the kids, who were still in their green and black school uniforms. "Are you relatives? Her other grandchildren?"

Henry shook his head. "No, we're students. Mrs Gander is our school principal. We wanted to see if she's alright."

"I'm sorry. But it's family only."

"Oh."

Jenna piped up. "You said 'other grandchildren'. Is her granddaughter here?"

The nurse shook her head with condescending sympathy. "I can't give out that information, hun."

The kids made sure the unhelpful nurse saw them leave down the corridor. When safely out of sight Jenna grabbed Henry's shirt sleeve and they ducked into a common area that was set up with tables and chairs and a coffee machine. No doubt it was where anxious family members passed time during visiting hours when they needed a break from the endless watching and waiting for loved ones to recover.

"We should go back and try to sneak past that nurse," whispered Jenna.

Henry protested. "We can't do that! We don't even know where to go."

"Well, if you had said we were family they might've let us in."

"But we're not." He frowned in disapproval. "It's ICU. The people here are really sick."

"I bet she is here somewhere," said Jenna, more stubborn than he'd ever heard her. It sounded like she wasn't talking about the Principal and reminded him that they were here to find some mystery person.

"Are you going to tell me who you're looking for?"

Before Jenna could explain she was interrupted by a friendly familiar voice. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

Henry jumped in surprise, afraid of getting in trouble at first. He relaxed when he saw it was Jess Meadows, his friend's older cousin whom he'd met once before. She looked like a grownup version of Jenna but with her blonde hair cut short. Pinned to her polo shirt was the same sort of hospital volunteer badge that Mary Margaret used to wear. There was a bouquet of white lilies wrapped in clear cellophane in her hand.

Hopefully she wouldn't tell anyone they had run off during a school day to come here.

"Jess!" said Jenna. "You're here!"

Jess put a finger to her lips. "Shh. A bit softer, Jen."

"Oops, sorry," said Jenna, lowering her voice to a sheepish whisper. "Is she here? Have you seen Lea yet?"

"No, I haven't," sighed Jess. "I just finished my shift. What are you two doing sneaking around? You shouldn't be here, guys. Henry, I take it you got dragged here by my little cousin."

"Er, not really-" Henry glanced at his accomplice.

"Actually he wouldn't let me come by myself," Jenna said, matter-of-factly. "I wanted to come find Lea and tell her that you're really sorry about what happened. She needs to talk to you. I figured that she'd come to see her grandma in hospital and I could convince her to give you another chance. You're sad all the time."

Jess groaned under her breath. "Jen, she doesn't-… It's been longer than you think. It's complicated ok?"

"No, it isn't. It's obvious you still love her."

"That's not why we don't talk anymore."

There was no stopping innocent curiosity so Jenna persisted with her stubborn questioning. "Then why?"

"I'd like to know that too," said a new voice.

Jess composed her face before turning around. Her former unrequited love (crush? almost girlfriend?) Lea Gander, granddaughter of the ailing Principal Lucy Gander, was standing right behind her with her arms crossed.

As usual she was dressed in black jeans and a flannel over a band t-shirt. Jess hadn't seen her in almost a year - ever since the curse had broken and they'd had what was arguably their worst fight- but nothing had changed. Lea's chestnut hair was still cut in the same fashion: shaved short low on one side and the rest styled across in waves.

"Lea," mumbled Jess, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "You ok?"

"Do I look ok?" said Lea.

"Of course you're not, I should've realised-… Can we talk?"

"We're talking now. I can't believe you'd come here at a time like this. You told me you didn't want to see me again and now you turn up?"

"I know. But I wanted to check if you're alright. I'm sorry about your Gran-"

"I'm not sorry," Lea's whisper was harsh. "I hated her! She made my life hell, as you well know, and then kicked me out of home knowing I had no money and nowhere else to go. She wouldn't even let me see my little brother. She told me being gay was a sin and it was all in my head. She said you were a bad influence so many times I started to believe it."

"None of which was my fault and was no excuse for treating me like shi-" Jess stopped, suddenly remembering that her young cousin and friend were in earshot. "You broke my heart."

The quiet of the ward swallowed her anger and reminded her this was hardly the place or the time to continue an old fight. It definitely wasn't why she'd come here. The cellophane of the bouquet in her hand crinkled. She'd intended to lead their first meeting in so long with a gift and an apology. The words "I'm sorry" were ready at her lips several times.

"She's dead, Jessie." Lea's face crumpled into her hands and her voice choked up. "The stupid old cow is dead."

"Come here."

It took three seconds for Jess to offer her arms and Lea didn't protest the embrace, she sank into it. Despite the fact that Lea was both heavier and taller than her, they fit well together and Jess relished being able to provide some physical comfort at least. Lea was now free of her grandmother's hate but she'd also lost the only adult relative and carer she'd ever had.

Meanwhile, Henry was watching the interaction off to the side.

"Hey, look," Jenna whispered to Henry. "It worked!"

"Yeah." Henry smiled. "The happy endings are coming back! Now all we have to do is get Lea and Ethan together. Mrs Gander must have been keeping them apart. Maybe he won't be such a bully at school to us anymore."

Henry checked his watch. It was nearing the end of the school day and his parents would be expecting him soon. He said as much to Jenna and told her he'd make his own way home. She was going to stay and catch a ride home with Jess so Henry reminded her not to forget the bikes. Luckily she didn't think to ask how he was going to get home, meaning he didn't have to make up an excuse for the real answer (which was either 'magic' or 'call Moms', one of the two).

"I gotta go," said Henry. "See you at school?"

Jenna smiled. "Thanks, Henry. See you at lunch."

Henry grinned to himself, buoyed by the warmth of gratitude, as he headed out of the hospital with a bounce in his step. Jenna's matchmaking plan had paid off and he'd been able to help. The schoolgirl may have lost her memories but hope for their friendship hadn't been completely lost.

This was exactly why Emma was so important to the town in her roles as the Saviour, the Sheriff, the founder of KidSpace, and the partner of the Mayor. She was bringing back the happy endings by example and by her no-nonsense attitude to intolerance. Maybe nothing could have changed Lucy Gander's mind about the importance of love and family, but Lea wasn't a lost cause and neither was her little brother Ethan.

As for the state of Storybrooke and the town's happy endings, Henry wondered if his Moms had made any progress today. He was keen to find out.

He hadn't even made it out of the hospital grounds before someone grabbed his arm from behind and whirled the boy around. It happened so fast he didn't have time to jar in shock. An elderly man who looked both sick and crazy gripped both of the eleven-year-old's shoulders in a vice-like grip stronger than he ought to have been capable of.

"Are you the boy?" the old man shouted hoarsely in his face. "ARE YOU THE BOY?"

"I… I don't know," stammered Henry. "Sir, do you need help?"

"We all need help. They will die. THEY'RE GOING TO DIE."

"Who?"

The old man's watery blue eyes widened but his grip remained tight. He rasped. "The boy's mothers are going to die. Only one comes back. It will be your choice."

Henry's jaw dropped. "What do you mean? How do you know I have two mothers?"

"Mr Howard! There you are." A hospital nurse wearing blue scrubs appeared and gently pried the old man's hands from Henry's arms. The nurse put her arm around the old man and rubbed his shoulder. He didn't give any sign of recognising her; he only stared ahead. It was then that Henry noticed that the old man was wearing hospital-issue pyjamas, slippers, and a white name tag around his wrist.

"I'm sorry." The nurse gave Henry a kind smile. "I hope he didn't scare you. Mr Howard and I were on a walk when he slipped away from me."

"No, it's okay," said Henry, pulling at his sleeves to straighten them. "But he did say something strange to me… um, what's wrong with him?"

"He's just old, honey. Sometimes he gets himself a bit confused."

After the nurse walked away with her patient Henry said to himself, "He's not the only one."

Neither age nor senility explained the old man's ramblings. How could he have known that Henry had two mothers? It was possible that he had seen his photo with the Mayor or Sheriff in the newspaper but that still didn't explain what he'd said. It sounded like a warning from the future. The fact that Storybrooke had already received two time-travelers implied that it was impossible to rule it out.

What if it's true? Henry thought to himself. What if his mothers were in danger somehow? What if he could only help bring one of them back? Losing one of them wasn't an option. They had only just been united as a family, something he'd wished for his whole life, and there was no way he was willing to give up either of them.

I have to make sure it doesn't come to that!

I have to warn them.

Henry knew he wasn't supposed to use magic anymore but this was no time for rules. Not when the universe itself seemed to be breaking the laws of time and space. Henry looked around to see if he was in anyone's eyesight and then cast the spell. A tornado of purple smoke of his own making began to twirl around his feet and climbed higher and higher.

One second he was standing there in the hospital grounds, the next he was gone.

* * *

___Sheriff's Station_

Dr Whale was already waiting at the front door of the station when David arrived carrying an unconscious Em. He looked rumpled and bleary-eyed, likely from working night shift at the hospital.

David shifted the weight of his precious cargo in his arms and tossed the keys to Whale who let them both in. He headed straight for the main office and navigated his way around the spare desks to the back room where there were two cells. The bars that formed the doors were ajar so he pushed his way through the leftmost cell and laid his daughter on the bed.

He moved out of the way so that Whale could crouch down beside her.

"Mary Margaret said she'd been unconscious for approximately five hours?" said Whale as he was examining the teenager's vitals and checking for any symptoms of danger.

"Yes," said David. "She was awake at some point early this morning feeling sick. Mary Margaret gave her some crackers to settle her stomach. We're not sure what time it was but she took these."

He handed over the packet of pills and Whale took the foil packet to read. "Benzodiazepam, ten milligrams. Were there only two missing?"

"We assume so, yes."

"She should be fine," the doctor declared. "Keep an eye on her until the sedative wears off. It can affect people differently but she will likely wake sometime in the next few hours. Tell Em that in future if she wants to take something for morning sickness she needs to visit a doctor and to never self-prescribe with someone else's medication. She shouldn't be taking anything while pregnant without discussing it with a doctor."

David agreed with a nod. "We'll talk to her. She doesn't think to ask for help but we'll make sure she knows how important this is. Thank you, Dr Whale."

Whale offered his hand and David was too much a gentleman (and too much the former Prince Charming) to refuse it. Especially after the man had just dropped everything to provide free medical advice on the sly. Inside though he had to grit his teeth and ignore the part of his brain that knew this letch had not only slept with his wife but loved to remind him of it at every opportunity.

"Em's a good kid," said Whale. "It's a shame she had such a rough start. What with the curse, growing up an orphan, and being the Saviour and all that."

"Emma is fine," said David, raising his eyebrows to make his point.

"True." Whale's smile turned into a leer. "Besides, from what I hear Regina is making it up to her these days."

At David's glare the doctor held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, I'm going! Call me if anything changes or take her straight to A&E."

Just when he ought to have been gone, Whale came back down the hall to toss one more question the former Prince's way. He had been the one to warn the Charmings that the Mother Superior was suspicious of Em's involvement in Mrs Gander's attack and was gunning for her arrest. At least there was someone on their side outside the family.

"Oh, and David?" said Whale with a creased brow. "Why did you bring her to the Sheriff's Station?"

David gave his answer in a grim voice. "Because if you were looking for someone on the run a jail cell is the last place you'd look. Trusting the Blue Fairy is how we lost Em the first time."

108 Mifflin Street

Henry re-appeared in a swirl of purple smoke outside the front gate of his family home. He flung the cast-iron gate open and ran up the porch to the front door, all the way tugging the zip of the front pocket of his backpack where he kept his house key (but it wouldn't budge). Neither of his Moms' cars were parked in the driveway but he knocked on the door anyway just in case they were home.

He was too impatient to wait for an answer so he unlocked the door magically and entered while calling out for them.

"Mom, Mom! Are you home? Moms, where are you?" Henry poked his head into the lounge room and Regina's office first before venturing towards the kitchen and dining room.

Maybe they're still out, he thought.

There was a clink of glass that sounded like someone tinkering with Regina's chemistry set. His Mom had been up half the night brewing the perfect solution to the town's problem, her and Emma's True Love potion. Regina had showed the completed version to him before rushing him off to school that morning. That reminded him - he had tons of questions for her about magical chemistry and how she'd managed to get it to work.

Maybe his Mom was still working hard on it but she hadn't heard him come in. He was a little early after all and she'd be expecting him to catch the school bus home. Hopefully she wouldn't figure out that he and Jenna had given themselves the afternoon off from school.

"Hey, Mom?-" Henry stopped dead in his tracks in the archway. Regina's chemistry set was still set up but it wasn't his mother who was standing there.

It was Mr Gold. He was holding the small flask of purple potion up to the light to examine it this way and that. Thankfully it had a tiny rubber stopper in the neck of the flask to prevent the loss of even a drop of the precious liquid.

"Henry." Mr Gold smiled, unfazed that he'd been discovered. "I was waiting for you."

"How did you get in here?" said Henry.

Gold flicked his wrist to produce his empty palm with a flourish. "Magic of course. The same as you."

The cane which he'd previously been holding stayed upright in mid-air all by itself. With his other hand he held the potion bottle by the neck with two fingers.

Henry shifted from foot to foot. The pawnshop broker was a powerful, he must've sensed the use of magic nearby. It was unnerving to contemplate the extent of his power, knowing full well that the imp likely held back the totality of his abilities from his students.

"What do you want?" said Henry carefully, trying not to be too combative.

"I came to see how you were getting along. I thought perhaps you might need my assistance with the instructions but I see that I may have underestimated two of my favourite students of dark magic. You and your mother are quite the team."

Henry raised his chin. "My Mom did most of it. She didn't have to resort to dark magic either."

"Oh, I know that, my dear boy. As soon as it is activated this little potion will be the most powerful substance of good magic in all the realms. Rather impressive for an Evil Queen. I had no idea she had it in her."

Henry frowned. "Huh? You gave her the instructions for the Love Potion you made for Snow White and Prince Charming. But Mom had to improvise for hers and Emma's. You didn't think she could do it did you. You thought she'd fail."

The corner of Gold's mouth turned upwards. "You're a smart boy, Henry."

Mr Gold tossed the little flask a few inches into the air and when it landed in his palm again it disappeared. To a non-magical person it would have looked like a sleight-of-hand trick, but this had been real magic that had sent the precious object into hiding.

"Hey!" Henry objected angrily. "What are you doing? Give that back!"

The boy raised his own hands to cast a spell but Gold was too quick. There was a puff of purple smoke. A second later, a pair of black crocodile-skin gloves covered Henry's hands. The boy tried to pull them off but they were stuck somehow. Magicking them off didn't work either.

"My hands," cried Henry. "What've you done to me?

"That's enough magic for now," said Gold.

"No, please! You can't have the potion. My Moms need it to save Storybrooke."

"That's the least of their worries," tutted Gold, as the tendrils of purple smoke began to curl around his feet. "Pretty soon Storybrooke won't even exist. Neither will you, Henry, and if you don't exist you cannot be my downfall."

Henry ran forward to try to get to Gold before he disappeared. There was a scuffle. The boy only just managed to grab hold of the pawnbroker's suit jacket but it wasn't good enough to prevent the man from leaving. Gold shrugged away from the small crocodilian-clad hands and became engulfed in a swire of smoke.

The Dark One was gone and he'd taken the potion with him.


	68. Locked in

 

_ Sheriff’s Station _

 

David pulled up a chair at his desk and decided that he might as well get some paperwork done to pass the time while he watched over his sleeping daughter, Em. 

 

It was a toss-up as to who hated paperwork more -- he or Emma. The thought made him smile; in fact, any similarity or trait that his daughter seemed to have inherited from him filled him with pride. Sometimes David thought he couldn’t be prouder of the person she was already, but then she’d say or do something in defense of what was fair and good and it’d make him fit to burst.

 

At first, Em’s extra-long sleep had brought back uncomfortable memories of the sleeping curse that had almost caused her mother to sleep for all eternity. But the doctor said his teenage daughter was going to be ok and it was an enormous relief. Any number of irritating interactions with Whale was worth that knowledge. 

 

The Deputy Sheriff was reminded of the first day he’d met his daughter as a teenager, when he’d caught Em shoplifting and brought her here to the Station. He could still recall the sight of her -- skinny and defiant -- slouching across from him in an interrogation room declaring that she hated the parents who’d abandoned her at birth. 

 

David’s one constant regret about his daughter was that he hadn’t been there for her when she was growing up. He couldn't let go of the guilty feeling that he'd let her down, that he’d failed her in his duty as a father. Maybe things would’ve turned out differently for her. He loved her for who she was and that included the resulting scars of the pain she’d gone through but he couldn’t help wishing she’d had the happy and safe childhood she’d deserved.

 

Stirring noises came from the cell where Em was sleeping. When the teenager sat up with a yawn a huge smile stretched across David’s face. His little sleeping beauty was awake.

 

“What time is it?” said Em, blinking sleepily. She swept her long blonde locks out of her face, discovered her glasses in her pocket, and put them on. She looked around and recognised her surroundings. “Wait a sec. Why am I here?”

 

“I was afraid you’d ask that,” sighed David. “One day I was minding my own business in the Enchanted Forest and I met this beautiful woman who hit me in the face with a rock, and now here you are.”

 

“Daaaaaad,” Em groaned. “That’s not what I meant.”

 

Her dismay at his terrible joke had been the intended effect. Em got up and came out of the cell to sit herself on the corner of his desk. He teased her with a “good afternoon”, asked how she was feeling (“fine”), and whether she wanted anything to eat (“ew no”). Em watched him fill in some forms before asking again.

 

“How come we’re at your work?” said Em.

 

David turned serious when he had to explain why he’d brought her to the Sheriff Station. He asked her about the sleeping tablets and then without nagging too much he passed on Dr Whale’s warnings about taking other people’s medicines. He then told her that Mrs Gander had been taken to hospital after her house was broken into and that the Blue Fairy wanted to question her about it. 

 

Em listened to it all and even though David knew he had to tell her these things he could see in her face that she was becoming wary and withdrawing from him.

 

Her first question was, “Am I in trouble?” 

 

“Not necessarily,” said David. “I only want to know your side of the story. What happened last night? Were you at Mrs Gander’s house at any time?” 

 

Em looked away for a minute to think. “Where’s Ri? What’d she tell you?”

 

“I want to hear it from you.”

 

“Why does everyone think it was  _ me _ ? No matter what I do I’m always under suspicion. I guess I’m going to be a bad kid forever. Is that what you think of me?”

 

“I-”

 

“I didn’t break into her house ok! The old biddy is lying. I didn’t even touch her. She’s the one who’s batshit crazy. Maybe she attacked me. Did you consider that?”

 

“This is serious, Em.” David said in a disapproving tone. “I’m not saying this as your father, it’s also my job as Sheriff’s Deputy. An old lady was seriously injured. I need to know the truth about what happened so that I can protect you in case the law gets involved. Mrs Gander wasn’t the only one saying you assaulted her.”

 

Em scoffed. “That’s impossible. There was only me and Ri there.”

 

David didn’t answer. It was an old interrogation technique of letting her come to the conclusion herself and seeing what she’d say. It was only circumstantial evidence anyway (“the Blue Fairy said that Ri had said…”) that Em did anything wrong so it wouldn’t be enough proof officially. Playing one of the girls off against the other was a dangerous game though, and when Em realised the implications of his questions she became angry at him real quick. 

 

“There’s no way!” Em’s mouth gaped in horror. “You’re saying Ri told you it was me? I don’t believe you! You’re lying. She’d never let me go to jail for something I didn’t do.”

 

Whether it was because she wanted to be dramatic or she had nowhere else to go, Em got up and stomped over to the cell she’d woken up in. The teenager grabbed the steel door and slammed it shut behind her with a clang.

  
  


_ Granny’s diner _

 

“Hey, I’m paying,” said Emma, when the two women got up from their booth to leave. She leaned in towards Regina’s face seriously. “If the world ends today I want to be able to say I paid for lunch.”

 

“You certainly will pay for it,” muttered Regina. 

 

The Mayor didn’t really care about who did or did not pay in this instance. But she did roll her eyes when Emma shooed her to go on ahead while she “paid”. Regina knew full well that the Sheriff had forgotten her wallet and was having to resort to convincing Granny to add the bill to her running tab. More like overflowing tab.

 

The bell rang as Regina closed the diner’s door behind her. At least if she waited out the front she could posture and look as impatiently pissed off as much as she liked without offending any voters or attracting stares. As Queen or Mayor she cut an intimidating figure (even when that wasn’t her intention).

 

Despite the earlier car accident there seemed to be a lot of through traffic in Storybrooke’s Main street now. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, even the pedestrians.

 

One man walked by her on the sidewalk, turned to glare at her, and then spat on the ground as he passed.

 

Such displays weren’t unknown to Regina of course. She’d certainly never been a ‘queen of hearts’ in the other land. But here… well, she’d hoped that time and sense might have helped some of the populace to see that she governed a safe and prosperous Storybrooke for them. Was this why she’d been stressing and losing sleep for days? To save a town full of people who hated her on sight? 

 

_ No _ , she reminded herself quickly.  _ Don’t think about the ungrateful morons. This is for Henry and Emma. I’m doing this for my family, for myself, and because it’s the right thing to do. I created this town with the Dark Curse in the first place, it’s my mess and now it’s coming back to bite me.  _

 

_ First, I have to see Em. I need to find out if she-- _

 

“Hey there, sister,” a gruff voice greeted her. It was the school janitor and former dwarf, Leroy. “We’ve got a problem.”

 

“I’ll add it to the list,” Regina said shortly.

 

“You’d better put it at the top then.” 

 

Leroy was carrying a large sheet of paper folded up like a roadmap. He unfolded it and shoved it under her face. 

 

Regina recognised it as a map of Storybrooke, the very one that she’d taken from the Sheriff’s Station some time ago. She’d enchanted it at the meeting of Snow White’s War Council to show the status and location of the magical border that protected the town and maintained the memories of its residents. Previously it had shown a bright yellow border that’d been creeping closer until recently it reached a distance that was only a few miles out of town.

 

The map was blank now.

 

“There’s nothing here,” said Regina.

 

“Right.” Leroy nodded. “It was glowing last night. Today when I went out to check the border’s position for the Sheriff I noticed your magic map wasn’t doing it’s thing anymore.”

 

“But you still remember your fairytale identity?”

 

“Sure I do. I’m Grumpy, the dwarf formerly known as Dreamy. So yeah, wherever it is, the border’s not completely dead yet. Who knows what’s happening.”

 

“It’s learned to deceive” said Regina in wonder, talking to herself. “The town line was created by the Dark Curse, it’s  _ my _ magic. Now it’s hiding from me?”

 

“You know what they’re saying around town, don’t you?” said Leroy. He turned over his shoulder and jabbed his thumb at the traffic in the street. “People are leaving. Word’s gotten round about them losing their memories. They think you’re bringing the Curse back and they don’t want to be here when that happens. Guess they don’t want to go back to the Middle Ages and no Netflix.”

 

Regina lost her patience. “Idiots! They’re afraid of losing their memories so they’re leaving town? Once they do that I can  _ never _ bring their fairytale identifies back. There is no way!”

 

Leroy shrugged. “So what do we do?”

 

“I don’t know,” she sighed.

 

“I’d like to know what’s going to happen because...” Leroy fidgeted with his beanie, pulling it off to scratch his scalp before putting it back on his balding head. “Astrid wants to start a family soon. I told her we had to wait because I was risking my Grumpy memories by going near the border every day. I don’t want to forget her. I said we could have a kid later if I’m still around. When this is over.”

 

_ Of course, _ Regina realised with a heavy heart. It wasn’t just her and Emma’s lives that had been on hold while this strangeness had been going on. Leroy and Astrid wanted to have a child; young Jess Meadows wanted to go off to college; Kathryn Nolan had been engaged to the man she’d finally found after all this time. There were so many happy endings depending on her.

 

Regina cleared her throat. “Well, you’ll certainly be grumpy after being up all night with an infant.”

 

“Look who’s talking,” Leroy retorted. “You were one grouchy lady when you first got that kid of yours.”

 

“I loved every second of it.” Regina shot back. She grinned evilly. “As will you.”

 

“Good. Then it's settled. You're babysitting my brat on date night. See ya later, sister."

 

The dwarf left and Regina had to ask herself  _ Did that just happen? _ The townspeople were abandoning Storybrooke like rats aboard the proverbial sinking ship, but somehow the former Evil Queen had a few remaining supporters who still had faith in her.

 

_ Ugh, _ now she'd have to make an effort to avoid their being disappointed in her at all costs. How horrid it was to be thought of as a hero and for people to have lofty expectations of you. The pressure would be crushing if she wasn't used to people expecting the worst of her. No wonder Emma hated it. The Saviour was on an even higher pedestal, she was responsible for everything that went right or wrong in this town and she actually did have the power to change things. 

 

_ Apparently it takes the Saviour of Realms a glacial age to pay for two coffees and biscotti though, _ thought Regina.

 

"For heaven’s sake, Emma," Regina muttered to herself and looked around. "What is taking you so long!"

 

Her irritation quelled in an instant when the diner’s door bell rang and the subject of her thoughts came out, staring at her phone in dismay. 

 

Emma looked up and blinked like she was going to cry. It was unusual to see her so visibly distressed that it immediately signalled that something had gone very wrong. Regina went to her, intending to wrap her arms around her but the other woman refused eye contact shrugged out of it. It must’ve been one of those times where she wasn’t in the mood for physical comfort from anyone. Sometimes it was just too much for her.

 

Regina placed a gentle hand on her arm to get her attention. “Emma? What is it, dear.”

 

“It’s my mo-” Emma cleared her throat and started again. “Um, Mary Margaret just called me. She noticed that my things were gone from the apartment and wanted to know when ‘her roommate’ had moved out and why I hadn’t even told her I was leaving.”

 

“Roommate?” echoed Regina, confused. “But you haven't lived there for months.”

 

The both of them had just been there at Mary Margaret’s apartment at lunchtime. The schoolteacher had seemed completely normal at the time. She certainly hadn’t acted as though she’d forgotten that Emma had moved to 108 Mifflin Street some time ago. Not to mention that since the curse ‘broke’ she almost always referred to Emma as ‘her daughter’ not her roommate, even though Emma hardly ever called her ‘Mom’ to her face.

 

_ Oh god, it's because she’s forgotten. _

 

“Your mother’s lost her memories?” said Regina, confirming what Emma had already realised.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“What about David? Does he remember?”

 

Emma shrugged despondently. “I asked but she said he wasn’t there and neither was Em. Mary Margaret was confused about why I thought David would be there in the first place. She definitely doesn’t remember being married to him. When I mentioned Snow White and Prince Charming she told me I’d been reading too many fairytales with Henry.”

 

“But we talked to them earlier at the apartment and they were fine.”

 

“It must’ve only just happened. Mary Margaret lives in the middle of town. If the border’s reached here then I guess everyone’s lost their memories now. There’s no point anymore. I let everyone down.”

 

“No,” Regina said firmly. “It’s not over yet...” She went on to explain what Leroy had told her and the fact that the dwarf still had his memories. For now.

 

They had to get back on track with the original plan that Gold had given them: create their own True Love potion and activate it with True Love’s Kiss. It was the only thing they had to go on. Emma had been the one confident in their ability to get it to work this morning but she was clearly losing hope fast. If her parents had been there no doubt they would counsel her that a hero needed to persevere until the very end, even when all seemed lost. 

 

Regina couldn’t deal with her acting like this but neither could she give a Charmings-style speech about hope and how Good would always win. Waiting for something to happen wasn’t Emma’s style either. She needed to snap out of it. She needed action. For that she needed to be angry.

 

“You’re the Saviour,” said Regina in a hard voice, at which Emma’s eyes immediately snapped up in recognition. “You need to figure this out. Saving the day is  _ your _ thing. In case you haven’t noticed this could be the last day of my existence.”

 

Emma glared. “What d’you want me to do, Regina? I don’t know how to fight this! There’s no bad guy, no villain, nothing I can kill. There’s just us and problems I don’t know how to fix.”

 

“You need to contact Neal. He’s your True Love.”

 

“ _ What _ ?!” said Emma, not even trying to keep the anger out of her tone. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Why are you saying that now. We’ve spent days making our potion based on the assumption that you’re my True Love -- whatever the hell that even means -- and now you’re saying you think it’s not you?”

 

“Do you have a better idea for why it’s not working?”

 

“No, but-” Emma shook her head, unable to fathom this sudden turn. 

 

If her plan had been to piss Emma off royally it had worked. But before Regina could reap the reward of rousing her newly motivated Saviour into action, a dusty red pickup truck swung over to the kerb with a screech of its tyres. There were suitcases and a few dining chairs roped down on the tray back which threatened to come loose at any moment.

 

A large tall man in dirty denim overalls with a patch reading ’BOB’ stitched into his pocket got out of the driver’s seat and approached them. She recognised him as one of the concerned citizens who had attended protests outside Town Hall in the past. Emma referred to him as ‘Bob the Bean Farmer’ and often threatened to arrest him for stupidity. The first thing he did before going off on his rant was shove a meaty finger in Regina’s face.

 

“Howdy Sheriff,” said Angry Bob. “Got a problem to discuss with you, Mayor.”

 

“Join the queue,” barked Regina. “I’m busy.”

 

“My wife over there,” said Bob, pointing at the passenger seat of his truck. “Cain’t remember who she is. Says she’s not married to me no more.”

 

Regina gritted her teeth and attempted to be diplomatic. “The Sheriff and I are aware that people are reporting problems with fairytale memories. We are working together on a solution-”

 

“Solution?” spat the farmer. “You caused this! Cuz yer still an Evil witch. I hear the Curse is comin’ back for yer. Ask me yer gonna get exactly what yer deserve.”

 

“Hey!” Emma shoved the man’s denim-clad barrel chest with her palm. “Watch your mouth, asshole.”

 

Bob’s entire face was seething red. “That’s it. I’m outta here. No more beans for Storybrooke!”

 

With that the large angry idiot jumped back in his truck and squealed away. Emma and Regina just looked at each other in disbelief that this was their life now. Maybe it would be better to let the Curse rebound and let Storybrooke go back to the way it was, instead of this insane mish-mash of modern technology and medieval politics.

 

Emma let her arms flap at her sides. “Now what.”

 

“We were talking about your father.” Remembering what she’d intended to do before the blustering farmer showed up, retrieved her small round makeup mirror from her pocket and opened it up. They knew that Emma’s mother had forgotten everything but not whether her father had. “Show me David Nolan.”

 

When the image of the Deputy Sheriff appeared in the glass Emma leaned in to see. David was sitting at a desk and he appeared to be talking to someone. Apparently the Magic Mirror wasn’t wired for sound so they couldn’t be sure who it was or what they were saying to each other. 

 

“He’s at the Station,” said Regina. 

 

Emma nodded. “He must have left home after having lunch with Mary Margaret, which is when we last saw them, and then he must’ve gone back to work. What does that mean?”

 

“It means he still has his Charming memories. For now. Otherwise he would’ve gone to the Storybrooke Pet Shelter because that’s where David Nolan’s cursed identity worked.”

 

“Of course! Maybe he knows where Em is.”

 

“Call him,” Regina urged, but it was unnecessary. Emma already had her phone out again and was tapping into her list of family contacts on the screen. The phone rang several times but there was no answer.

 

Emma cursed. “Damnit. He’s not answering.”

 

A second later they were surprised to hear another ringtone but it turned out to be from Regina’s phone. There was a fleeting hope that it would be David calling them back but it wasn’t him. The Mayor frowned, puzzled by name of the caller on screen before she answered. “Hello Astrid?”

 

“Regina! I need to talk to you-” Astrid sounded out of breath as if she was running. 

 

“What is it?” said Regina. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Everything! You’re out of time.” 

  
  


A torrent jumbled out of the former nun without Regina being able to get a word in of her own. Astrid mentioned wishes and fairies and the teenagers and the end to Storybrooke as they knew it but not in any kind of order that made sense.

 

“I’m at the stables and the Blue Fairy was here-” Astrid rushed on. “She’s going to fix my mistakes but I don’t even know what I did wrong or what she’s going to do. It’s about you and Emma and Henry and the girls--”

 

“Astrid, calm down,” ordered Regina. “Tell me what happened. Slowly.”

 

“I sent Ri back to the past. Em is going to disappear next, if she hasn’t already. The girls had a fight but neither of them will remember anything when they go back. You’re going to feel attracted but also hate each other when you meet again one day without knowing why-”

 

“Yes,” sighed Regina, allowing herself a quick glance at Emma. “That is what it felt like.”

 

“I’m so sorry!” wailed Astrid. “I was supposed to be your Fairy Godmother. I tried to fulfill the Swan-Mills Family wishes as best I could but something went wrong. I think the Blue Fairy knew about it all along somehow. She knew I’d fail.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“She warned me not to tell you what happened but I had to. You two deserve to know the truth. It was granting your wish that made this happen, Regina. Ri desperately wanted to go home and forget all of the bad things she learned here. It’s why you thought your requests were being ignored, because you couldn’t remember having already used your wish here in the future. The Blue Fairy let you think you had been abandoned by us. But she was the one who assigned me to you in the first place. I had no choice but to fulfill the wish once it was approved. She knew how powerful it was going to be. Why did she let me cast it myself when I’m still so inexperienced?”

 

Regina’s snarky mental reply came unbidden.  _ Because she’s a treacherous bitch with her own agenda, that’s why! _

 

Astrid kept on apologising. “Once again I am so sorry. If there’s anything I can do to help -- anything other than fairy magic that is -- please don’t hesitate to ask. I will also be removing myself from my position as Patron of your family.”

 

“No. Don’t.”

 

The fairy gasped in surprise. “Wh-what?”

 

Regina pressed her lips into a smile. “You have been a fine patron and loyal friend to our family, Astrid. I appreciate the help you gave us when Em and I were in the car accident. You comforted me and you did not have to do that. Because of you I no longer think badly of all your kind. At the moment we need all of the allies we have.”

 

Even over the phone the young novice’s relief was palpable. “Really?”

 

“Yes. Now if I’m to protect you I need to know what Blue threatened you with. You said she warned you not to tell me about the wish?”

 

The phone went quiet for half a minute while Astrid must have been considering how to answer the question. When she did it was in a small voice. “She said she would de-wing me if I told you.”

 

_ Goddamn her! _ Regina thought angrily.  _ How dare she threaten one of mine with the worst fate imaginable for fairykind.  _ There had already been one patron fairy die because of the Mills family. There would  _ not _ be another. Especially not one who granted important wishes such as those that had led to Henry’s existence.

 

“I will see to your safety,” Regina promised Astrid. “When I next encounter your leader I will make certain she is aware that you are under my protection.”

 

_ Sheriff’s Station  _

 

If Em’s plan was to make her father feel guilty for his apparent betrayal it was working. 

 

David tried to concentrate on some computer work for a while to give her some space but he could feel her contempt the whole time glaring daggers at him silently from behind the bars of the cell where she’d locked herself in. There was no explanation he could give and it was unlikely that anything would satisfy her anyway -- she’d accept nothing except Ri’s telling her to her face that she’d turned evidence against her girlfriend.

 

Em sat cross-legged on the scratchy blanket on top of the cot and she stared down at something in her hands for a long time.

 

It was all too easy to picture Emma’s past -- pregnant, alone, and impossibly young -- sitting the same way in an Arizona jail doing time for an offense she hadn’t been wholly responsible for. If that hadn’t been painful enough, the knowledge that Neal had let it happen and would never come forward to confess his part in the crime was a cruel twist of the knife.

 

David took a break to go to the bathroom and when he got back Em had moved. She was standing at the bars trying to pick the lock of the cell door with a bent pin. Apparently she wasn’t having much luck with it.  

 

David smiled gently. “Having trouble? I thought you were like Houdini.”

 

Em huffed. “Not anymore.”

 

“I’ll get the keys,” said David. He scattered some papers on his desk and opened the drawers one by one searching for the station’s key ring to no avail. They weren’t there. “That’s weird. I thought we kept them here.”

 

“I want to get out now,” called Em. “I don’t want to be locked up anymore.”

 

“Gimme a second.” David jogged over to the Sheriff’s desk in her office (which was in an even worse state of disarray than his). He checked the drawers and cabinets but to no avail. He could’ve sworn that either he or Emma had stored the keys somewhere safe after the last time they’d been used.

 

“Excuse me, hello?” A voice called from the hall. It wasn’t often that anyone came to the Station to report a crime -- because there was almost no crime in Storybrooke -- unless someone came to talk to the Sheriff in confidence about whatever mischief Mr Gold had been up to lately.

 

David was surprised to see his ex-’wife’ Kathryn standing there. She looked well but perhaps a little nervous. She was clutching at the leather strap of her handbag slung over her shoulder and looking around at the office as though she’d never been inside before. 

 

“Kathryn, is everything ok?” The Deputy went to her and offered her a seat at which she smiled gratefully and sat.

 

“I didn’t know you were working here now,” Kathryn admitted with a touch of shyness. “It’s good to see you, David. How have you been?”

 

David hesitated, unsure of what to say. He could hardly say  _ “I’m great, now that I’m living with the woman you think I was cheating on you with _ ”. The last time he’d seen her she’d turned up at Mary Margaret’s apartment accusing them of having an affair. As they’d discovered, she was one of the first people in Storybrooke to lose her memories. Kathryn had been very angry that day but it was a while ago now. Had she come to accept the breakup of their marriage even though she couldn’t remember why it happened?

 

Kathryn interpreted his silence as awkwardness and changed the subject to why she was here. “I came to ask the Sheriff for help. That Tommy guy is still following me around. He keeps trying to talk to me and he thinks I’m someone called Abigail. It’s weird and it’s making me feel very uncomfortable. I think he could be a stalker. He hasn’t done anything yet -- but I know he works at the school so I thought it best to report it. Just in case.”

 

David nodded. “Don’t worry. It’s not his fault, it’s -... nevermind. I’ll speak to him.”

 

“Thanks.” Kathryn smiled. “I can always count on you. Even now.”

 

As he stared at his wife David gradually realised he couldn’t remember why he’d ever left her. Whatever problems they’d been having seemed inconsequential now. Kathryn was a beautiful and kind woman. She didn’t deserve to be treated badly. They’d been through a lot together since his disappearance and coma.

 

It descended upon him like a fog. Slowly and then completely at once. Part of his identity evaporated into nothing.

 

David winced suddenly and closed his eyes.  _ Please, please, _ he thought.  _ Don’t let this be something to do with the amnesia. The last thing I want to do is end up back in the woods or worse - the hospital. I feel so out of it. _

 

When he opened his eyes again he saw Kathryn watching him with concern. “What’s wrong, David? Is it another memory coming back to you?”

 

“No,” he murmured. “It feels like… I don’t remember. Why are we here?”

 

“Hey, guys?” Em whined from where she was hanging at the cell door. “Can you let me out now.”

 

Kathryn’s eyes went wide when she realised they were being watched. “Oh goodness, who is that in the cell. How could you leave her locked up, David! She’s just a child.”

 

“I - I don’t remember doing it.” David admitted. The young blonde girl looked very familiar but he couldn’t place her in his memory. Had he seen her before? “Wait a minute-”

 

“She looks like a younger version of Miss Blanchard’s roommate, the Sheriff’s Deputy. Don’t you think?”

 

“That’s exactly who I am!” said Em, rolling her eyes at their apparent stupidity. “Don’t you remember me, David? I’m your daughter. Yours and Mary Margaret’s.”

 

Kathryn gasped and looked at him with a question in her eyes. As much as David tried he couldn’t seem to think properly, it was like a blur in his mind obscuring something important. The teenager was in the cell for a reason. It was the oddest feeling of deja vu, as though he’d lived this moment before and everything was familiar about it yet he couldn’t remember it at all. Who was this girl?

 

The blonde teenager tried again. “Dad!”

 

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know you,” said David, frowning in concentration. “You can’t be my daughter. My wife, Kathryn, and I have no children. We’ve been married as long as I can remember.”

 

Em grabbed the bars and yanked on them. “Stop it! Let me out. I need to get out,” she cried, starting to panic at being locked up while the keys were nowhere to be found.

 

“Stay calm, honey,” said Kathryn gently. “We’ll help you. We’re going to sort this out.”

 

But it was too late, and technically it was over before it even happened. 

 

The portal opened up in the cell, a swirling black hole of nothingness around which even the light was sucked towards. There was no sound because it was quieter than silence. It seemed to happen in slow motion but in reality it appeared and then disappeared in an instant taking its prey with it. 

 

“Dad, help me!” the girl who claimed to be his daughter cried out for her father pleading with him to save her. An instant later she was gone.

 

David looked on helplessly as as she was pulled back to wherever she’d come from. He no longer remembered that he’d watched her be ripped away from him once before, 28 years ago, when this strange series of events first began.

  
  
  



	69. The point of no return

 

_ 108 Mifflin Street _

 

A vortex of purple smoke cleared on the porch revealing the Sheriff and the Mayor, newly transported by magic to the mansion they both called home. It was nearing dark and Storybrooke was close to its magical twilight. They were worried for their son who ought to have arrived home from school by now to an empty house.

 

Regina reached for the front door first and found it unlocked. She pushed through the door in a hurry, with Emma at her heels. The house felt wrong and the former Evil Queen knew why. The magic responsible for its existence was thinning and now it felt like it could disappear in an instant.

 

“Henry,” she called out, but there was no answer from the quiet house. “Are you home?”

 

Emma pulled at the elbow of the Mayor’s coat sleeve. “Regina, look,” she said, then pointed at some of the picture frames in the hall. There were frames on the wall and others on the spotless surfaces of the furniture in the entryway, each one held a photograph of Henry with or without his mother. Regina had added to the collection over the years, every time her son brought home his school portrait, and more recently she’d framed one of her and the Sheriff together looking very much a couple. 

 

The frames were now empty, or so it seemed at first glance. 

 

“What’s going on?” said Emma. “The photos have changed. Did you do this?”

 

“No,” Regina murmured. She went to face the wall where one of her favourite photos used to hang. As she got closer she realised that the photo wasn’t completely blank, its subjects were fading away and were barely visible now. The backgrounds were intact, only the people were affected.

 

“This one’s really faint,” said Emma, holding one of the frames in her hand. “Henry’s almost completely gone. Is this… Did something happen. Did we change the past?”  

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“This whole time we’ve been worried about what would happen to the future if the girls learned something that changed things for them. Do you remember what Henry said about time travel? He said it was either like Terminator or Back to the Future.”

 

“What exactly is your point.”

 

“In the first Back to the Future movie Marty McFly has a photograph from the future of himself and his brother and sister. The kids start to fade from the photo when stuff happens in the past to interfere and it looks like his parents won’t get together. If his parents hadn’t gotten married the kids wouldn’t have been born.”

 

“You think this means that Henry won’t be born because of something you and I have done? Or haven’t done? Based on your expert knowledge of 80s sci-fi movies and their accurate depiction of the physics of time travel.”

 

Emma nodded earnestly. “Based on  _ classic _ 80s sci-fi movies. Yes.”

 

“Hm. I bet Henry would know.”

 

The two mothers shared a wistful smile, each thinking the same about their precocious boy who always seemed to know more about what was going on than anyone else.

 

“Henry?” Regina called upstairs for one last try and waited for the sound of a reply or running footsteps. Surely if he was home their son would have heard and come running to find out what was up.

 

“I’ll go up and check his room,” Emma suggested. “Maybe he has headphones in. You check on the potion?”

 

Regina nodded. She went into the kitchen where she’d spent most of last night tinkering with her chemistry set in order to fine-tune the potion, modifying it from the base instructions that Mr Gold had provided. All of the glassware, the bunsen burner, and the vials of ingredients were still set up exactly as she’d left them.

 

There was only one thing missing. The small flask that held the glittery purple True Love Potion was gone. 

 

There were traces of someone’s magic in the air. Someone whose magic she was all-too-familiar with. There was only one candidate who sprang to mind for the thief’s identity. 

 

“Gold.” Regina gritted her teeth. She grabbed the parchment he’d given her with the near-useless instructions on it and crumpled it in her fist. He’d wanted her to make the potion for him for his own purposes - whatever he was up to she was sure it wouldn’t turn out to be good for her.

 

The dark sorceress looked around to see if anything else was disturbed (maybe she was wrong  about the theft and Henry had moved the potion?) but there was nothing to indicate that anything else had been touched. Whoever had come in and taken it had only been interested in one thing -- the most valuable and powerful potion to exist in all the realms.

 

“Henry’s not in his room.” Emma came up behind her suddenly as though she’d bolted from upstairs. “It’s empty! I don’t think he’s here anymore. He’s-”

 

“The potion’s gone,” said Regina flatly. “Gold took it.” 

 

“What?!” Emma tipped her head back in dismay. “Fuck! Fuck that manipulative bastard.”

 

“Yes, dear. Once again, he’s managed to get what he wants from me under the guise of giving help. You’d think I would’ve learned this lesson by now.”

 

“We’ve got bigger problems,” said Emma, worry written all over her face. “We need to find Henry.”

 

Regina knit her brows and nodded. “Yes, it’s getting late. He definitely should’ve been home by now.”

 

“No! I mean yes, he should. But that’s not all. His room is  _ empty _ empty. All his stuff is gone -- toys, clothes, bed furniture -- everything. Even the walls are white like the rest of the house.”

 

“You mean-”

 

“It’s like he was never here…  _ Ever _ .”

 

A small faint voice was heard calling from the backyard. They hadn’t heard it before from the entryway at the front of the house but now in the kitchen they were close enough to hear. 

 

_ “Mom? Mom, I need your help...” _

  
  


The ‘CLOSED’ sign was displayed in the door of Mr Gold’s shop but that didn’t stop her. The Blue Fairy entered waved her hand over the doorknob and flung the door open, and then let it shut behind her with a clatter. The ring of the bell attracted the proprietor’s attention and he came out to see who had circumvented the rudimentary security of the window signage.

 

“Ah, Mother Superior,” greeted Mr Gold, apparently amused and nonplussed that she’d broken into his shop. “What can I do for you. We’re having a special sale today -- everything must go.”

 

“I need your help,” said Blue, unable to hide her difficulty admitting it.

 

“Oh ho ho!” Mr Gold chortled at the idea. “Really, dearie, and how can my humble self be of use to the supreme dictator of Fairykind? Assuming I’d want to be useful that is.”

 

“One of my novices has granted a very ill-advised wish with far-reaching consequences for Storybrooke, indeed all of our lives depend on fixing that mistake.”

 

Gold pierced her with his gaze. “Whose wish would that be?”

 

“You know very well whose wish,” said Blue, dismissing his fake ignorance with some impatience. “Regina Mills, the teenager. She wished to return to the past. I know you tricked her into it by making her think you stole the wish -- which is impossible. I need to know why.”

 

“If I did trick her--” the corner of Gold’s mouth quirked. “How would you know?”

 

“We record everything on our clients as regarding wishes. Documentation is crucial for their satisfaction. We need to know what our clients are thinking and feeling in order to best fulfill their wishes. Royals accept this as their price for our patronage.”

 

“That sounds... invasive.”

 

“Mr Gold! You tricked that poor young girl into making the kind of wish that should be granted to no-one, certainly not by one of my novices. Storybrooke is in danger of falling into a time paradox. We need to fix this mess before it gets any worse.”

 

“I did  _ not _ trick her.” The imp put on a sing-song voice and a head wobble for good measure. “I gave her exactly. what. she. wanted.”

 

“No, you gave her what she asked for, not what she wanted. Certainly not what was best for her. I doubt the Evil Queen will forgive you for that. She knows what you did to her now. She will remember.”

 

“But which of us does she hate the most?” Mr Gold bit his lips like he was hiding a secret. “Here’s a clue: it’s you. Also, fairies in general. Good luck with that, dearie.”

 

Blue sneered but was left without a response because he was right. She had inadvertently made an enemy when she ought to have made an alliance. But that was before she’d realised how important the former Evil Queen would be to the future rule of the kingdom and to Storybrooke. Who could have predicted that the Royal line would wend its way to the progeny of a ruthless social-climber like Coraline Mills?

 

Blue had to grit her teeth and screw up every ounce of her pride to ask, “Help me undo the wish.”

 

“You can’t undo magic,” said Mr Gold, sounding far from sorry about it. “Not to worry! Time abhors a paradox. Circumstances will arrange themselves to prevent that from happening. I’ve seen the future and the past. Both of the girls will end up where they should be.”

 

The Dark One wasn’t afraid of this getting in the way of the masterplan he’d concocted over centuries and that meant-- “You planned this. Why.”

 

“Because children don’t necessarily stay where you put them. I needed my monster to be waiting for me where I left her in the past.”

 

“And Em Swan? She’s still here,” the fairy pointed out with raised brows.

 

“Not for long,” said Gold. He checked his watch as though waiting for a scheduled train. “Any minute now...”

 

The Mayor and the Sheriff found their son in the backyard. 

 

The floodlights illuminated the lawn and garden in the fading light of the day. A small figure sat on the back porch step working on something.

 

The two mothers ran toward him, yelling his name and asking him whether he was hurt. Regina had a head start so she got there first and saw that Henry had found a pair of garden shears and was trying to cut something. She immediately took the metal blades from him and checked him over for injuries. These were not ordinary scissors, the Mayor had enchanted them as undullable blades to give them a permanent sharp edge. She’d warned Henry in recent times to avoid any object with detectable magic -- even hers.

 

“Henry! I’ve told you never to touch anything magical-...” Regina was gearing up for giving him a scolding. She grabbed her son’s hands and noticed with relief that he wasn’t bleeding. He was wearing gloves made from some sort of tough material. Had he been trying to cut the gloves off for some reason?

 

Emma panted, leaning over with her hands on her knees. “You scared us half to death, kid!”

 

“I’m sorry, Moms,” said Henry. Then he told them how he’d come home to find that the pawnbroker had broken in. “Mr Gold was here. He came to steal the potion. I tried to stop him-”

 

“You should  _ not _ have tried,” said Regina sternly. “He’s too powerful and you are too brave for your own good. So help me if you turn out like your mother... What are these gloves you’re wearing?”

 

“I can’t get them off! Mr Gold put them on me and now I can’t do any magic. They’re stuck somehow.”

 

The former Evil Queen waved a spell in the air to give some extra light. She looked down at Henry’s smaller hands and realised they were not encased in the usual cloth or leather of gloves, but in crocodile skin. It was far thicker than animal hide which only protected skin from cold, this was more like armour.

 

Regina felt the gloves to determine what spell Gold had used. He must’ve done something to block the wearer’s magical power and to prevent the person from removing them physically. It wasn’t a particularly powerful spell and most magical practitioners ought to have been able to avoid becoming gloved in the first place, but once the gloves were on they were essentially magical handcuffs. A beginner like Henry would not have suspected such a trick.

 

“Magical handcuffs,” muttered Regina.

 

“Can you get them off?” Emma asked her. “With your powers?”

 

“Yes.” Regina nodded as she began to work her magic and the crocodile skin gloves came off with a single tug. As soon as he was free Henry flung his arms around her for a hug and then did the same to Emma.

 

“What happened today, Moms?” said Henry, eager to hear what he’d missed out on while at school. “Did you figure out how to activate the potion?”

 

“Not yet.” Regina smiled with an optimism she didn’t feel.

 

“What are we going to do?” said Emma. “There’s no point trying to activate the potion if we don’t have it. Do we have time to make another one? Can we beat Gold to using it somehow?”

 

Regina shook her head. “No, even if we had time the potion can only be made once. We can’t make another one. That was our only chance.”

 

“Then I’ll go find him. Make him tell us what he’s planning to do with it and get it back. You stay here with Henry.”

 

“No!” said Henry, eyes wide as saucers. “You can’t split up. You have to promise to stay together no matter what happens ok. Promise me you will!”

 

When they questioned him about why he was so anxious that they not separate Henry told them that “somebody” had told him about his mothers being in danger. The boy refused to say who said so, how they knew, and where this all happened though. Henry maintained that it was prophetic and that they both had to “come back” alive.

 

“Come back from where?” asked Regina, confused. “Honey, did Mr Gold tell you this? Did he try to scare you with threats?”

 

“No! You have to believe me. The only way you can save Storybrooke is if you stick together. You have to kiss. It has to be True Love’s Kiss.”

 

Regina sighed. “I know that’s what you believe but-... sweetheart, we have tried. Nothing’s worked.”

 

Henry gripped her shoulders like he wanted to shake some sense into her. “Mom, no! Don’t be sad. The hero never believes it at first otherwise it wouldn’t be a very good story. You and Emma  _ belong _ together. The potion will work when you need it to. You’re good now and Good  _ will _ win.”

 

“I wish that were true.”

 

Henry smiled. He pulled something out from his coat pocket and tucked it safely into her hand. “Here. I learned it from Em-”

 

The last of his words were cut off by a deafening boom.

  
  


The time-space continuum had not reacted well to being manipulated by magic.

 

The sonic boom that shook the ground with its power sounded just like the one they’d heard moments before the car accident earlier in the day, the one theorised to have been caused by Regina’s younger self being yanked back to the past. Regina was the only one who knew for sure because she’d been there on both sides of it the first time, as Ri and Regina. 

 

Suddenly the wind picked up and reached crescendo from a gentle howl to an outright roar. The storm that swept through Storybrooke a few days ago was nothing to this. It was as if a hurricane had come out of nowhere.

 

Emma said something over the noise but her voice was drowned out. The Sheriff yanked her son to his feet, grabbed hold of Regina too, and pushed them towards the doorway at the back of the porch. The wind whipped at their hair and clothes as they ran.

 

The promise of shelter was within reach when suddenly the entire building faded away before their very eyes.

 

“What’s happening?” yelled Emma, shielding Henry bodily from any flying debris. She held onto Regina in a protective embrace with their son between them.

 

“We’re out of time-!” Regina said in reply, but there was no way to explain the extent of how true that was. 

 

Ri had wished herself back to the past; Henry had wished himself into being born; Astrid said that Em was next…

 

_ It must have been Em disappearing this time,  _ Regina realised.  _ Would she come through the other side too? _

 

With the mansion almost completely gone they could see through it to the houses across the street - or where the houses should have been. Even the bitumen of the road and concrete pavement were barely visible. All man-made surfaces and structures were being erased. Soon they would be standing in nothing but bare Maine land like it might’ve been before civilisation came. Before a town had magically dropped in out of nowhere.

 

“Moms, look!” cried Henry.

 

The boy held up his hand to the light Regina had created which streamed through the near-invisible skin. The ends of his fingers were almost completely gone and the rest of his hand was see-through up to his wrist. He was fading away.

 

“Oh no,” Emma gasped. “He’s disappearing. Storybrooke is disappearing. We have to stop this!”

 

Dread sank like shot in her stomach and Regina’s eyes filled with tears that stung in the wind. Everything they’d been warning about since the girls arrived in their future Storybrooke from the past had come true. They’d changed the past and now it was affecting the future. The town the Evil Queen had worked so hard to create would soon cease to exist. Her precious boy was disappearing because he hadn’t been born anymore. They’d failed. 

 

“Do something!” said Emma, panic written all over her face. 

 

Regina felt a spark of annoyance amid the panic.  _ Of course  _ Emma would be blaming her for not fixing whatever this was. “Me? I don’t know what to do!”

 

“You have magic! Use it for something good for once in your life.”

 

“So do you!” Regina shot back. “You’re the Saviour. You’re the one who’s supposed to do good around here. Why don’t you act like it for once instead of waiting for me do everything. I wasn’t made for this. You were.”

 

Emma grabbed a fistful of Regina’s shirt collar. “Our son is going to disappear off the face of the Earth and you want to fight about who’s good and who’s not?”

 

“He won’t be our son for much longer if we don’t-”

 

“STOP FIGHTING!” said Henry. He succeeded in drawing their attention away from each other for a second, only for them to realise that he was fainter than before. They tried to cling harder to him but it was no use. The atoms of his existence were disappearing and there wasn’t enough of him left to hold on to.

 

“Henry!” Emma sobbed. “Kid, no. We love you.” 

 

“Don’t go!” begged Regina. "Please stay. Tell us what to do."

 

The ghostly image of Henry was trying not to cry. “I’m sorry, Moms.”

 

Their son faded away in front of their eyes.

 

At that moment the forest was beginning to reclaim the entire area where Storybrooke once stood. The town now had never existed. Trees and shoots broke through the soil greedily taking over what might have long been theirs but for the Curse that made civilisation drop in overnight. 

 

It was nearly full dark. Now that there was no light from streetlights or the soft glow of indoor lighting from the homes which used to be there.

 

The air became thin as though the oxygen were sucked out of it, but it was the magic that was being suffocated. The magical border was no longer fixed at the town’s edge to enclose and enclave and protect the small population of refugees who’d been transported there from another realm. The border had shrunk to almost nothing. The last thing in its path was its creator, the Evil Queen. It seemed fitting that she would die by her own magic.

 

She didn’t see what was coming for her.

 

“Regina, look out!” she heard Emma’s warning too late. 

 

The queen’s head whipped around just in time to see a large sinuous tree branch shooting towards her out of the darkness. She couldn’t seem to order her body to move in time.

 

Many times in her youth Regina had been swept off her feet and hung up in the air by one of Cora’s border protection spells to stop her from running away. So she knew what was going to happen. She could already feel the branch tightening around her torso and arms and legs at her mother’s behest, crushing the will out of her, stifling her freedom. But for once it never came.

 

At the last second Emma pushed the love of her life aside and put herself in harm’s way instead. The branch curled around her waist and flung her high into the air until she was gone from sight.

 

Regina screamed out for her over the din.  _ “EMMA! _ ”

 

When the roar of the wind died down there was nothing left but the quiet and dark of the woods at night. The sun had set on Storybrooke and its Saviour for the last time.

  
  
  



	70. The third day

 

 

_I don't know how you are so familiar to me—or why it feels less like I am getting to know you more and more as though I am remembering who you are. How every smile, every whisper brings me closer to the impossible conclusion that I have known you before, I have loved you before—in another time, a different place, some other existence."_

_\- Lang Leav, 'Soul Mates'_

* * *

 

 

 

It could have been the opening scene of an animated Disney movie it was that perfect.

 

The woods were beautifully verdant and alive with stirring wildlife. Birds chattered and the sun streamed through the treecover in delightful rays. Apart from the rustle of mid-morning forest life it was quiet. The sounds of human civilisation were completely nonexistent: not even the distant sound of traffic could be heard. It was completely peaceful.

 

Until someone lying prone in the dirt of the forest floor groaned. “Ohhh fucking fuck.”

 

It was Emma Swan, daughter of Royalty, Saviour of realms, Sheriff of justice, and mother of one precocious eleven-year-old boy whose other mother she just happened to be in love with.

 

This was like the worst hangover she’d ever had. No, it was worse. Her entire body ached and protested even the slightest movement. Her head was pounding like it was in a vice. She opened her eyes to barely a slit and immediately regretted it as the brightness stabbed at her retinas. She was pretty sure there was dirt in her mouth too. Urgh.

 

_ What happened? Oh goddd, I don’t care. I can’t think. Can I just lay here and die for a while... _

 

Emma lost consciousness again and upon waking later was unsure as to whether it had been ten minutes or several hours. This time she managed to push herself up onto her hands and knees and then sit upright. She spat to the side to rid the taste of dirt from her mouth and wiped her tongue on the wrist of her shirt sleeve. 

 

The pain of exposing her eyes to bright light had lessened from excruciating to tolerable. By the look of her surroundings she assumed she was still in Storybrooke… maybe. Outside of town in the woods? Nature walks weren’t really her thing but she had been called out there a few times as the Sheriff, most notably when Henry had run off to look for her amnesiac father, David. But why was she here now?

 

Then the memories of what happened flooded back. 

 

_ The last thing she remembered was getting in the way and being picked up and thrown from a great height. _

 

_ But before that… Mary Margaret had forgotten her. Storybrooke had disappeared into nothing. Henry had faded from existence. Gold had stolen the potion that she and Regina needed to save everyone with True Love’s Kiss- _

 

_ Regina! _

 

Emma’s eyes snapped back open. “Regina?” she called out to the empty forest. “Regina! Henry! Can anyone hear me? Is there anyone here?”

 

Shouting over and over again got nothing in return.

 

She half expected one of the fluffy forest creatures to hop forward and say, “Nobody here but us bunnies!” If she’d been a real princess she would not have woken up cursing with her hair full of twigs. There would have been twittering blue birds and baby deer offering to solve her problems or whatever. Did Maine even have wild rabbits?

 

_ Oh god, brain, shut up. _

 

“Okay,” Emma breathed and sat back on her heels. “I’m in the woods, I feel like shit, and I might just be the last person on Earth. Great.”

 

There was a buzz in her pocket. 

 

Utterly gobsmacked that it had survived at all, the Sheriff retrieved her iPhone from the back pocket of her jeans and stared at it. Every piece of plastic, steel and concrete that formerly made up the town of Storybrooke had disappeared and yet she still had her phone. Not that there was anyone around to call. (Her brain jokingly suggested “ghostbusters” for some reason.)

 

The display on her phone had a new notification that read:  _ ‘Updating TripAdvisor...’ _

 

“Well, at least the internet still works,” Emma muttered, amused with her own sense of irony. It wouldn’t be much help to her in her current situation though. Later if anyone asked she would  _ not _ admit to typing ‘how to save the world’ into google. 

 

Much to her surprise her assumption that the app would be of no use was dead wrong. It took a few seconds for the GPS to kick in but when it displayed she realised she knew exactly where she was. The maps software obviously ‘thought’ that Storybrooke still existed and the satellite merely returned the coordinates of her current position. According to technology she was a big red ball in the middle of town. It was a place she’d been a few times before, though it had never looked so bereft of books and as forest-like as it did now.

 

Emma made a noise of disbelief. “What the hell. I’m in the Storybrooke Library?!”

 

The clocktower above the library had been the first thing to disappear months ago. Was it a coincidence that she’d ended up there after the entire town had finally shrunk to nothing?

 

That was not long after the best day of her young life: she'd arrived in Storybrooke and met Ri in the woods and it had that looked just like this. She could remember the petite brunette teen's shy smile as she introduced herself. Ri, in her braid and riding outfit, always standing with the weight on her toes like she was ready to spring into a run or swing into a saddle... she was a kind young girl with the world at her feet. Emma had never seen anything quite so beautiful. No wonder she'd had fallen in love at first sight...

 

_ I know a lost girl when I see one... _

_ How about I help you get home, princess... _

_ You like horses huh? _

_ What do you mean you don't know what a donut is?! _

 

_ " _ Oh my god," Emma said aloud, despite being alone. "I remember everything! I’m Em. I actually was her and I was here in Storybrooke as a teenager. I met Regina when she was Ri. We’re them and they’re us."

 

The newly returned memories available in her mind were not vivid or clear as though they'd just happened -- they were similar to her other teenage memories. Some were faded like old photographs, a blur of events and emotions and impressions. Others were stronger and easier to remember such as kissing Ri for the first time or when they'd had a big fight about Henry. Now it was as if that stretch of time had never been forgotten. Her memories of being Em had slotted back into place in the timeline of her life like jigsaw pieces in a puzzle.

 

_ I have Em's memories now. She must have gone back to the past, just like Ri did earlier in the day. Does that mean... would Regina have Ri's memories now too? _

 

But Ri had disappeared first, Emma realised, and she and Regina been together for hours afterwards. If Regina suddenly remembered their time-travelling past why hadn't she said anything? 

 

_ Maybe... maybe she doesn’t remember then. Oh god, what if I’m the only one. How could we go on if only one of us made it to the other side? How can I be Em if she’s not Ri? What does it mean for us? _

 

_ I have to find Regina… if she’s still here. It doesn’t feel like she’s gone, and surely I would know? I can always find anyone I’m looking for. I can feel that she’s nearby…  _

 

Emma decided to get up and start searching on foot. “Regina!” she called out into the woods. “Regina---!”

 

“WHAT?” came the response from the irritated queen behind her.

  
  


The Saviour yelped in surprise.

 

“I’m right here,” chided Regina, hands on hips. “There’s no need to holler my name in that impatient manner. We’re the only two left in town, or where the town used to be that is.”

 

“You’re here! You exist!” Emma immediately leaped towards the frowning Mayor and threw her arms around her in relief. Even though her bruises and sore muscles protested she tightened her hold. She knew from the way the woman in her arms relaxed and responded to the hug that Regina’s terse irritation was all for show. She was glad to see her. It felt amazing having the one she loved safe in her arms again. This wasn’t just Emma hugging Regina, it was Em hugging Ri. 

 

“Yes, dear,” Regina murmured and leaned her face into blonde hair. “I’m here.”

 

“I missed you.”

 

“It hasn’t been very long. But I started to think you weren’t… Are you alright?”

 

Emma drew back and gave her a wincey smile. “I think I got thrown pretty far and hit the ground like a stone. Everywhere hurts like a bitch but I’ll live.”

 

Regina’s lips twisted. “Probably.”

 

“What happened?” said Emma, taking one of Regina’s hands in hers to fiddle with her fingers. “Is Storybrooke really gone. No-one else exists but us?”

 

A whole night had passed so Regina wasted no time in recounting what she’d observed since the chaos had begun. She’d witnessed her home disappear and then everything had gone dark. Apparently she’d woken up this morning on the ground where her mansion had formerly stood and then set off on foot to try to determine whether there was anyone else around. It took all morning until she’d heard Emma’s voice from some distance away.

 

As they filled each other in and talked about their current predicament they both avoided mentioning the most terrifying part of last night: their son’s disappearance. It was as though they’d both decided without discussion to not bring up Henry’s lack of existence. The fate of Storybrooke -- and their son -- weighed heavily upon them. 

 

There was another question Emma was dying to ask. She wanted -- no,  _ needed _ \-- to know whether Regina remembered being Ri. She couldn’t bring herself to ask it outright though. What if the answer was no? To know that Emma had her younger self’s memories and she didn’t … that would surely be devastating to Regina. The former Evil Queen  _ needed _ those memories as they probably encompassed some of the happiest times of her youth. Ri deserved to exist in someone’s mind somewhere; she deserved to have grown up and made it to a place where she could be free to live her own life and find happiness; she deserved to know what she’d been through wasn’t all for naught. Emma couldn’t bear to see the look on Regina’s face from being told that she had missed out on making it through to the other side.

 

Emma decided, _ I have to test her… without her realising what I’m doing. _

 

“How did you survive?” Regina was asking about last night and how Emma had been swept away by a magical tree limb. “The border -- my mother’s spell -- it came after me to destroy its creator and it took you instead.” 

 

“I can cancel out your magic remember?” said Emma. “I figured your magic’s just like you, it doesn’t need to be forced or attacked or destroyed. It just needs someone to remind it about love. I’m that someone.” 

 

“But how did you escape? The branch was going to strangle you.”

 

“I guess...” Emma looked her right in the eye with some of her teenage cockiness. “I’m like Houdini.”

It was Em’s catchphrase and the bratty teen had used it several times to refer to her latent magical ability to get out of tight fixes. But there was no reaction. Not even a flicker of recollection.

 

Regina went on. “I must confess that when I woke this morning and realised I was alone I thought it would have been a superb punishment for my Evil past, leaving me here to wander the woods in solitary guilt for the rest of my days. I always did hate exile.” 

 

“Well, luckily you’re not completely alone this time. I’m here.”

 

“On second thoughts perhaps I don’t want to spend my eternity with only you.” Regina raised an eyebrow, indicating that she was merely teasing.

 

Emma smiled and tilted her head. “Don’t you think this feels familiar somehow?”

 

“What does?”

 

“This,” Emma swept her arm around and then waggled it between them. “Y’know, us meeting in the woods...”

 

Regina’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know what you mean.”

 

She’d lobbed a leading question and when it fell flat Emma’s heart dropped with it. The reference to meeting in the woods would have been obvious if Regina remembered being Ri. They’d met for the first time in the woods; it had been love at first sight; they’d had a meet-cute. There was no way she would’ve missed the meaning of it. It was surprising that the Mayor didn’t seem to get the reference at all, since she’d heard secondhand about the girls’ first meeting.

 

_ But if Regina DID remember then she wasn’t being very forthcoming. Why wouldn’t she say so?! I can’t risk telling her unless I have good reason to think she remembers too.  _ Her mind growled in frustration at the reticent woman.

 

“Nevermind,” muttered Emma, scuffing her boot in the dirt.

 

“We should probably--”

 

“Hey, wait a minute --” Emma interrupted as a new thought occurred to her. “Your house was way across town from where we are now and all these woods look the same. How did you find me? How did you get here? ”

 

“Excuse me?” Regina’s eyebrows shot up and she actually looked offended. “I walked. I spent the first half of my life in a forest where there was no mass transportation, no GPS, and no phones. You on the other hand grew up on a diet of Pop Tarts and MTV. If either of us can manage to survive in the woods it’ll be me.”

 

Emma nearly burst out laughing at the idea. “Yeah, ok.” She decided it would be unwise to point out that stiletto boots were unsuitable footwear for rough terrain.

 

“Actually,” Regina admitted, turning serious. “I have been walking around searching for signs of you or anyone else. There’s no magic here anymore. I’ve tried various spells without success.”

 

“Your magic’s gone?” 

 

“Yes. Without Storybrooke’s magic I have no power in this world, just like the 28 years I spent here before you turned up to ruin everything.”

 

Emma felt the dread sinking inside her. It would have been useful to be able to make fire or apparate around. Magic would have been their biggest asset in figuring out what to do to bring Storybrooke back to life. Without it, it seems unlikely that they could achieve anything.

 

“So what do we do now?” said Emma.

 

“We save the day. Henry-” Regina’s voice cracked. Her face changed expression then to a mix of pain and sorrow. “Henry always has the answers and right now is no exception.”

 

The queen’s hand disappeared into her coat pocket for a second and then retrieved a small glass object that’d been stored safely there since last night. Regina explained how she’d come to have it:

 

_ Despite the chaos of Storybrooke and its’ citizens disappearing there was one young boy who had managed to do some good during the town’s final moments.  _

 

_ Henry smiled at his mother. “You and Emma belong together. The potion will work when you need it to. You’re good now and Good will win.” _

 

_ He pulled something out from his pocket and tucked it safely into her hand. “Here. I learned it from Em.” _

 

_ As Henry faded away in Regina’s arms he’d transferred something to her, his eyes wide and smiling, trusting that she would know what to do with it. Gold had turned up to steal the potion that his former student had worked for days to prepare and he had muzzled Henry’s hands with the enchanted crocodile-skin gloves in order to prevent the boy from using any magic to stop him. But the imp had not reckoned on the Swan-Mills child to have picked up a few tricks from his delinquent teenage mother. Henry picked his pocket the old-fashioned way -- just as Em had taught him -- as Gold was apparating away. _

 

_ Henry had stolen the potion back from its thief and the last thing he did before disappearing from existence was to give it to his mother so that she could be the hero. _

 

Regina held out her palm where there sat a small glass flask of glittering purple potion. “Henry gave it to me just before he disappeared. He stole it back from Gold. He learned how to pickpocket from Em -- from you.”

 

Emma’s jaw dropped. “Is that--”

 

The queen finished with a flourish reminiscent of her former master. “Yes, dear, it is our True Love Potion.”

  
  


The plan was back on: activate the potion, drop it in the wishing well, and save everyone. Then everything would go back to normal, Storybrooke and its people would reappear when the timeline was fixed and, more importantly, Henry would exist again.

 

The Mayor and the Sheriff -- the Queen and the Princess -- set off on foot towards the outskirts of where the town used to be to find the wishing well. Emma used her phone’s GPS to track their position as she’d been to the wishing well before with August when he’d tried to convince her to believe in fairytales. They weren’t sure whether the man-made stones of the well still existed but its water source was most likely extant. Regina explained that her Curse had created places here that were symbolic of key magical points in her former realm, including Lake Nostos which “returned things that were lost”. If the water was there they could administer the potion and it would work… hopefully.

 

That was the easy part of the plan -- the hard part was they still didn’t know how they were going to get True Love’s Kiss to work. 

 

The two women trudged through the overgrown woods, pushing through snapping twigs and foliage that hooked into their clothes like claws. There were no cleared paths anymore so it was far from an easy stroll. Regina stumbled and nearly rolled her ankle twice, and each time Emma reached out to steady her and prevent her from falling and injuring herself. The Saviour took the lead to do the brushbeating to make it easier for Regina but the extra effort took it’s toll on her.

 

It felt like hours before they stopped in a clearing to catch their breath and talk for a few minutes.

 

“Why do you think it’s not working for us?” said Emma, chest heaving. “True Love’s Kiss?”

 

“I don’t know,” Regina sounded out of breath too. Emma’s built-in lie detector pinged that she wasn’t telling the truth, which was plain to see in her overall demeanor. The regal woman had her hands on her hips, studying their surroundings in lieu of making eye contact while this subject was being discussed. “Anything other than Dark Magic is out of my purview.”

 

“I know you have suspicions or something you’re not telling me. If you have an idea there’s no point holding back.”

 

“Fine.” Regina said in a tight voice. “I think it’s not working because you don’t believe I’m your True Love.”

 

That was what she’d been afraid of, pissing her off by bringing it up like this and putting the other woman on the defensive. 

 

Emma sighed heavily. “Do you believe it. You think we’re really each other’s True Love?”

 

“Yes. I do.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Henry believes it.”

 

“But what if it’s not working because we’re not. Isn’t that possible?” 

 

Regina looked away. “Maybe.”

 

Emma finally put a voice to what they’d both been fearing. If that were the case they were truly lost with regards to saving Storybrooke since their only plan would be useless.

 

“I’m not sure I like the idea of it that,” she said, venting her frustration with this whole question. “If we’re only ever meant to be with one person we’re opening ourselves up to a world of hurt. If something happens to either of us the other will feel lost. You know how hard it is to lose someone you love that much. I do too. After what happened with Neal I never wanted to love anyone ever again. If  _ we _ lost each other it’d be even worse. We can’t let that happen. If one of us dies the other needs to be strong enough to cope -- for Henry’s sake.”

 

“I know what you mean,” said Regina. “After Daniel I thought I could never find love again. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to. Especially once my heart went dark. Who could love the Evil Queen? Perhaps I’ve been kidding myself that things could work out for me this time.” 

 

The last part of her quiet speech was so self-deprecating it physically pained Emma to hear it. “See! You’ve lost so much already. Look what happened last time-- You tried to destroy a realm over it. I could die anytime, today or tomorrow or whenever. A thousand random things could kill me. I don’t want you to go through that kind of pain and have to fight like hell to stop yourself from going Dark. Could you go through that again?”

 

Regina gave her a look tinged with annoyance. “Why don’t you let me decide if I’m willing to take that risk. I’d rather have you now for as long as possible than not at all. We’ll be fine as long as you make every effort not to die.”

 

“You too,” Emma retorted in kind. “Don’t try to be a hero and sacrifice yourself to fix all this. I know you have it in you but please don’t. We’ll find another way.”

 

“You’re the one with the hero-complex, Saviour. You are not to get yourself killed by some idiotic stunt of bravery. Or I will bring you back and kill you again myself.”

 

“Well, you’re not allowed to die either.” Emma smiled and slid an arm around the other woman’s waist to pull their bodies together. “You’re so amazing you’ve ruined me for all other human beings.”

 

Regina rolled her eyes but there was a touch of humour in her expression. They were standing close now having flirted their way to within kissing distance. Close enough to feel the tickle of breath on soft cheek. 

 

The queen let her voice drop enticingly low. “So we’re agreed. Neither of us is dying.”

 

“Good,” said Emma. “Because I have big plans for this weekend and most of them involve you. Naked.” 

 

Emma licked her lips, enjoying watching Regina’s eyes following that action. The attraction she felt for her reached its peak and she couldn’t bear another second without having her in her arms. They leaned in to kiss. Right before their lips made contact the ground collapsed beneath their feet.

 

Emma hit the cave floor hard on her side and rolled, letting the momentum take her without resistance. The second such fall in a day had every cell in her body screaming at her to stop doing stupid things. Debris and dust continued to rain down and she coughed repeatedly, unable to avoid inhaling the irritating particles. Above her light streamed down from the ‘ceiling’ which was only about twelve feet high. They’d fallen far enough to be hurt but not seriously injured. The opening illuminated the small area in which she’d landed but the rest of her surroundings was dark.

 

They’d landed in the underground catacombs that twisted and turned beneath the town of Storybrooke like a giant dormant snake. It was the same set of caves that connected the dwarves’ mines and the huge cavern under the library in which Maleficent had dwelled for 28 years as a dragon before giving up her swallowed prize. Once again the Saviour was in a cave searching for a True Love potion.

 

Emma tried to sit up but couldn’t yet. Every muscle in her back and torso felt like one big angry bruise. She could hear Regina coughing and scrabbling about nearby. “Em- ! Emma, are you -- (cough) --  hurt?”

 

“No, I’m ok... I think... You?” 

 

“Yes.”

 

Emma wiped the dust from her face. Her eyes were tearing up (it was definitely the dust and not tears of frustration). Through blurry vision she saw Regina hovering over her, looking very concerned. Her face may have had dirt on it but it never marred her beauty. The next thing Emma felt was a pair of gentle hands stroking her face and smoothing her hair back. She was torn between wanting to resist the coddling and craving its continuation.

 

“Are you sure you’re alright, dear?” said Regina.

 

“I’m not hurt,” Emma grumbled. “But I’m sick and tired of everything going wrong for us! Now we’re in big dark hole with no way out. What could possibly be go wrong next. I can’t wait to find out.”

 

“Maleficent could come and eat us,” Regina suggested drolly.

 

“Ha, now I know we’re screwed. You’re being nice to me and making jokes.”

 

“I promise I’ll be  _ very _ nice to to you if we make it to the weekend.”

 

Emma granted her a reluctant chuckle, wishing for the ordeal to be over already so they could get on with living their lives. 

 

“Do you think you can get up?” asked Regina, face full of concern.

 

“I’ll try. Need a minute though.”

 

On this attempt she managed to ignore the pain and sit upright. Heedless of ruining her clothes even further, Regina scooted closer so that they were sitting side by side. They could’ve been in the same attitude on a picnic rug in the park taking in a romantic sunset. Instead they were in a dark dirty cave with no means of escape.

 

“Aren’t you frustrated too?” said Emma, resting her forearms across her steepled knees. “This whole thing has been a set-up from the start. Everything. Our lives were mapped out for us by Gold or fate or whatever. It’s not even real. We’re just pawns.”

 

“Fate may have been responsible for us meeting but our love is real. Don’t you feel it?”

 

“Of course I do,” Emma softened her tone. “You know that I love you… but I don’t think that it’s because of fate. I love you only because I love you. We were lucky to meet but that’s all it was. Blind luck. It only feels like it must’ve been fate because it’s so incredible that we found each other. But it’s depressing to think that everything is fixed and planned out by someone else. If that’s true then what’s the point of anything? If there are no consequences to our choices because everything happens the way it was supposed to then nothing matters. I don’t want that. I’m in control of my own life. Neal tried to sell me that fate crap as well. I don’t believe in it.”

 

“Then believe in me. Believe in Henry. Our family.”

 

“I do. That's all I believe in. It’s the only thing that matters to me. I don’t care if it’s fate and we’re supposed to be True Loves or soulmates or whatever. Even if we’re not it doesn’t change how I feel about you."

 

Regina worried at her lower lip. “May I ask you something?”

 

“Anything.”

 

“Do you think Neal could be your True Love?”

 

Emma shook her head. “No, it doesn’t feel right. I don't know if I believe True Love exists in the first place. I think that it’s possible to develop such a strong connection to someone that it feels as though it was by grand design. I used to feel that way about him. But it isn’t enough. I did love Neal in the past but even if he was my True Love I'd never allow myself to be with him again. He hurt me too badly for that. Sometimes broken things can never be fixed. 

 

“I love  _ you _ , Regina. My home is with you and our son. Fate doesn’t get to tell me who I get to spend my life with. If you weren’t my soulmate I’d still choose you. You’re it for me.”

 

Regina smiled in the dim light. “Aren't you going to ask me if I think Daniel could have been my True Love?”

 

“No. There's space in your heart for Daniel and there's space in my heart for Neal -- a small space, mind you. I’m tired of the past. All I want is for you to be my future.”

 

They sat in silence for a few moments, allowing the thoughts to process. They’d talked over so much in the time they’d been together but there were still some things they’d skirted around since the beginning. 

 

Regina came out of her reverie to ask. “I need to know why you’re so reluctant to believe. You say you don’t believe in it but you think Daniel was my True Love. Why do you think you’re not my soulmate? Why Daniel but not you?”

 

Emma shrugged. “Because everyone knows much you loved him. He’s your story. You would’ve ended up together if he hadn’t died, that was how it was supposed to go. He must've been a good person. I know you love me -- but you  _ killed _ for him.”

 

Judging from her shocked expression Regina wasn’t expecting that. “I didn't kill  _ for _ him! He would've hated to see what I'd become. I became the Evil Queen because of what losing him did to me, there's a difference.”

 

“Well yeah, but... you don't love me like that. It's ok. No-one could.”

 

Emma said the last part softly, half hoping that Regina wouldn’t hear it at all. She couldn’t explain how it felt, how growing up an orphan had convinced her she was unlovable and would never matter to anyone. As an adult she told herself over and over that it wasn’t true but it never seemed to fully sink in. The hurt and rejection she’d felt as a young child, desperately wishing to be part of a family while watching other children get chosen in front of her at the orphanage, was so deeply entrenched in her she was often afraid the damage was permanent.

 

"You think I couldn’t kill for you?" Regina laughed, devoid of mirth. "Emma, trust me, I could. I’m still capable of going back to my old ways. At first the only way to reign myself in was the reminder that if I gave into murderous revenge again I would lose you and Henry. I needed that as a crutch. But now I know that I will never be able to be truly happy by ruining others’ lives. I worked hard to be the person who you and Henry deserve because I want us to have a life together. 

 

“With Daniel I was so young. I was trapped living with my family’s expectations for me. We had to sneak around stealing kisses, we were only able to be together for an hour here or there... All I had was hope and the fantasy in my head of what our future could look like. But with you it's  _ real _ . It’s everything to me. This is our happy ending, we’re living it already. Fate didn’t choose you for me, I did.

 

“Believe me, Emma Swan, even if you believe nothing else I say, you  _ are  _ my True Love.”

 

Emma’s lie-detector powers were on full alert but were dead silent for once. Every syllable of Regina’s speech was the honest truth. She fully believed that they were going to have some kind of fairytale happy ending, despite the direness of their current circumstances. In her old incarnation as the Evil Queen she would've razed realms to the ground if there'd been a chance at winning the heart of a someone she loved. But now...

 

For the first time in Emma’s life someone had chosen her and was willing to put her first, in front of history and old grudges and expectations. Regina was hers. She’d simply asked for love and offered it in return. She’d turned her life around because she thought Emma was worth it. All she had to do was let herself believe it.

 

“I-” Emma’s throat closed around the words and she swallowed, trying not to tear up again.

 

Neither knew who made the first move.

  
  


As soon as their lips met in a kiss a light began to glow around them. In seconds it grew into a white intensity that engulfed them both before exploding outwards in a pulse of rainbow light. 

 

The cave ceiling shook, releasing a shower of glittering dust.

 

Both Regina and Emma had seen it once before and when they opened their eyes they knew what had happened -- it was True Love’s Kiss this time. It hadn’t worked until they both believed in each other and knew each other fully. The curse was finally broken once and for all.

 

“I must be-” Regina started to say, before shaking her head in amazement. “I am your True Love.”

 

“Yeah.” Emma gave her a coy grin. “And I’m yours.”

 

“You believe it now?”

 

“Yep, apparently I do. Someone gave me a good reason or two.”

 

The potion in Regina’s dusty coat pocket was now glowing bright purple, having been activated by the first kiss of two who believed in True Love. When the sorceress took out the small glass flask the light was enough to shed light on the terrain of the underground cave. They were at the mouth of a tunnel whose walls were glittering like diamonds. It was one of the old mines where the dwarves used to harvest diamonds for use in Fairy magic. The light from the potion was pointing that way.

 

“Look,” said Regina. “The potion’s glowing.”

 

“We did it!” said Emma, clenching her hand into a fist pump. “That is what it means right? The potion’s activated?”

 

“Yes, and it’s leading us that way,” said Regina, nodding. “We can take the tunnel up to the surface. Maybe it will take us close to the source of the Wishing Well.”

 

“Let's go!”

 

Emma leapt to her feet with renewed energy and bent over to help Regina up. The second the other woman was raised to her feet and began to weight-bear she cried out in pain as her ankle rolled. Apparently they’d both been injured in the fall through to the cave. Luckily Emma was quick enough to grab her before she fell.

 

“Regina!” cried Emma. “Are you ok?”

 

“It’s my ankle.” Regina hissed in annoyance and hopped closer so that Emma could hold on to her better. “I think it’s sprained.”

 

“It’s not broken is it. Why don’t you sit down-”

 

“No!” Regina protested. “We have to keep moving forward.”

 

“But you can’t walk-”

 

“Then you’ll have to help me. Make yourself useful, dear, and volunteer some of that delightful upper body strength of yours.”

 

Emma hoisted her up by the waist to take most the weight herself and Regina snaked her arm around Emma’s shoulders. This strange three-legged race was familiar, bringing to mind their escape from a fire in the Town Hall building not long after they’d first met. It wasn’t very efficient, with one person half-dragging the other along in the near-dark but it was better than nothing.

 

The Queen and the Princess limped off to follow the caves back up to the surface. The potion lead the way by giving off a steady source of light, which flickered and bounced off the walls of the caves. The dwarven mines were an excellent source of the diamonds that were ground into the sparkling grit used by Fairies in their wishes. The magic in the walls seemed to sense the presence of the True Love Potion and bowed to it, transmitting the light onwards to its destination.

 

“How does the potion know where to go I wonder?” asked Emma.

 

“The walls,” said Regina, trying to keep the wince out of her voice. “The diamonds are reacting to the magic, leading the way.”

 

“You sure?” Emma teased her in an attempt to distract her from the pain. “I think you just want to take me down your tunnel of love.”

 

Regina gave a ladylike snort. “Keep calling it that and you’ll never get near it again.”

 

Before long they could see that the drift of the mine met the surface at the end of an incline ahead. Daylight was visible long before they reached it, tantalising from afar with the promise of safety. Emma was strong from her frequent workouts in the converted gym Regina gave her at home but even she was beginning to tire from the forced march uphill and having to carry another person. 

 

Emma panted. “No offense to the dwarves but I’m going to be really glad to be above ground.”

 

“We’re nearly there,” said Regina. 

 

The drift eventually came to a gradual end and released them above ground, back into the Storybrooke woods. They must’ve been underground longer than they’d thought -- everywhere was bathed in the fading orange light of the setting sun. It felt like only an hour or two since but now time was racing towards the end of the day. The final rays were glaring from the horizon ahead, behind them the woods were shadowy.

 

Emma gauged their surroundings first and set Regina down so that the injured woman could sit on one of the smaller boulders concealing the entrance to the mine. She was intending to fish her phone out to check the map for their location but it turned out not to be necessary. 

 

“I think...” started Emma, looking around again to be certain. “I know exactly where we are.”

 

“How?” said Regina. “It looks like every other part of the woods.”

 

“I’ve been here before. With August.” Emma pointed towards the rising ground. “The road is on the other side of that ridge. That’s where he parked the motorcycle when we came here looking for the Wishing Well. He thought he could make me believe in magic by bringing me here.”

 

“You came here on a motorcycle date with Pinocchio?”

 

“Hey, now is not the time for jealousy.”

 

Shade fell over them suddenly as the sun began its descent below the kissing point of the horizon.

 

Regina’s face suddenly turned to the subtle horror of what she was seeing and what it meant. “Are you seeing this? The sun has nearly set already. It’s too fast!”

 

“Yeah, I know. Feels like the day just disappeared doesn’t it.”

 

“Yes!” Regina reached up to grab the Sheriff’s sleeve, trying to instill the urgency into her. “Remember what Gold said? He said we had to activate the potion and toss it into the Wishing Well before the sun set  _ on the third day _ . Emma, that’s  _ now _ !”

 

“Shit!” Emma pulled out her phone and checked the time app. “There’s only 15 seconds until sunset. Get up! We might make it. But we’ll need to run.” 

 

“I can’t.”

 

When the Saviour tried to yank her to her feet Regina cried out in pain as soon as she put attempted to weight on her injured ankle. The colour immediately drained out of her face like she was about to faint. She let go and bumped back against the rock she’d been leaning on.

 

“You have to get up.” Emma gripped her hand tightly. “C’mon, we’re so close to ending all of this.”

 

The former Evil Queen exhaled several times, cursing under her breath at the pain. “Take the potion and go yourself.”

 

“But I can’t leave you when you’re hurt.”

 

“You have to. You can make it if you run.”

 

“No, I-”

 

“Go, Emma! It’s the only way.”

 

“But… it won’t work. Henry said we had to stick together at all costs...”

 

Time had been disappearing on them all day, speeding up as it approached the end. The sun was seconds away from disappearing over the horizon. Green shoots were visibly growing from the ground and leaves unfurled upon tree branches at a speed that was noticeable to the naked eye.

 

Regina was still pleading with her to make a run for it. But Emma knew she’d never make it now, even in her fittest uninjured state she’d never be able to make that distance in so short a time.

 

Emma checked her watch. There were seconds to go...

 

“Give me the potion,” she ordered, holding out her palm.

 

The Queen was confused but complied anyway, depositing the small flask into the Saviour’s palm. “What are you going to do?”

 

“Do you trust me?”

 

“Emma-”

 

“Do you trust me?”

 

“Yes, but-”

 

“I’m going to throw it.”

 

Regina’s eyes went wide with alarm. “ _ WHAT _ ? Are you crazy? You’ll never be able to!-”

 

But her protests went unheeded. Emma pulled her arm back and then launched the tiny bottle into the air. 

 

One of Emma’s earliest promises was a declaration made at the foot of an apple tree:  _ You have no idea what I’m capable of _ . It was true in many respects. Despite refusing to believe in magic for months Emma had proved herself to be capable of great feats of magic. Her powers had always been with her, even as a young girl. Hers was a strange, unpredictable magic that manifested itself in her environment. Sometimes she could control it to unlock places or procure objects she desired. Another time she’d managed to fight a dragon. She was the Saviour and now that she fully believed in it anything was possible.

 

The little glass flask containing the realm’s most powerful True Love potion sailed through the air arcing towards its target in a perfect parabola. It was an inhumane throw, an insane impossible risk that Emma had taken but her aim was true and every particle of the environment bent to her will. Neither of the two women could see far enough into the distance to know whether it would make it.

 

Just as the sun slipped below the horizon there was an audible plink of glass smashing on the stones at the bottom of the Wishing Well and then Storybrooke was plunged into the darkness of night. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	71. Exactly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *steps nervously back into the spotlight* A thousand apologies for how long it's been since this story was updated and for leaving it on a wicked cliffhanger. A year ago my gf broke up with me and I was pretty devo for a while so I wasn't really in the mood to be writing a happy ending. I've got a new job this year and things are looking up. I've got most of the last chapter done (72) and it's going to be quite long so it's nearly over. I hope you've enjoyed this story and I'm grateful to everyone who has left kind comments and reviews along the way. No matter what happened on the show, Swan Queen the story belongs to us.

 

 

It was the third morning since the curse had finally broken and for the third time the Saviour had woken up not knowing whether it had all been a dream or not.

 

Emma was lying in bed, eyes still closed, with the comfortable weight of a warm person draped over her back. She was loathe to move and not just because she didn’t want to disturb her bedmate. She didn’t even want to crack open an eyelid to check the time. It was that waking phase where it was hard to tell whether what you’d just dreamed had been real or whether it had actually happened.

 

Coming face to face with her teenage self and fighting a shrinking town that was losing its fairytale memories with a potion made from True Love’s Kiss… had that all really happened? Maybe it had only been a dream. A weird one.

 

Her bedmate moaned. Unfortunately it sounded more like a moan of discomfort than one resulting from a sexy dream.

 

“You ‘k?” slurred Emma. “R’gina?”  

 

“Yes, dear,” Regina sighed and rolled over. “My ankle is hurting. I have to get up.”

 

“Mm no … stay.”

 

“I have to go to work. As do you, Sheriff.”

 

Before Emma could protest the door flew open and a small blur in dark blue Star Wars pyjamas ran into the bedroom. Their eleven year old son jumped on the bed between his mothers, thankfully missing Regina’s injured foot which was strapped and propped up on a pillow.

 

“Hi Moms!” Henry greeted them happily. “Good morning.”

 

Regina leaned over to kiss Henry good morning and ask him how he’d slept. She then slid out from beneath the bedcovers and gingerly rose to her feet. There was an ankle brace waiting patiently beside the bed but the Mayor bypassed it and headed for the closet to choose today's work outfit.

 

Emma looked up at Henry with bleary sleepiness. “What’s goin’ on, kid.”

 

“Come on, Emma!” said Henry, exasperated. “Are you acting dopey again? We went through this yesterday and the day before. You did it!”

 

“Did what?”

 

“Broke the Curse once and for all with True Love’s Kiss just before the sun set on the third day. It was almost too late but Mom says you took a stupid risk and threw the True Love Potion into the Wishing Well from afar. But it worked, time snapped back to where it should be and now everything’s normal again in Storybrooke. Everyone remembers who they really are... except you apparently.”

 

“Oh yeeeah!” Emma brightened up as reality returned to her waking self. “I did do all that didn’t I. Sorry, I’m still half asleep. I forgot for a second how awesome I am and how I saved the entire town. Again.”

 

“Can I stay home from school today?”

 

“No,” said Emma at the same time as Regina’s emphatic “No” came from the direction of the walk-in wardrobe.

 

“But I want to help get ready for the event-”

 

Emma furrowed a brow. “What event?”

 

Henry’s face lit up and he was about to blurt it out. “It’s for your-”

 

“Henry!” said Regina, cutting him off as she re-entered the room. “Go get dressed in your uniform, please. You are going to school and Emma is going to work. Nobody is having the day off.”

 

“But why,” her son whined.

 

“Because I say so. Off you go. I’ll be down in a minute to make your lunch.”

 

The boy jumped up and ran off again. Emma had no idea where he got all that energy from. The kid was definitely a morning person, unlike her. 

 

Emma was still lazing around in bed when Regina’s phone rang, which the Mayor answered in her professional politician’s voice and began to talk shop. Emma tuned it out so that she could doze in the comfy bed for a few more minutes.

 

The next time Emma woke properly it was when Regina laid a kiss on her cheek and stroked her hair until she had her attention. She must've actually fallen back asleep because Regina was now impeccably dressed in a suit and wearing makeup. It was hard to decide whether she preferred this look that reminded her of when she’d first come to town or whether a bed-messy sleepy Regina was more attractive.

 

“Hi gorgeous.” Emma smiled.

 

Regina smiled back and leaned over to kiss her again. “Hi yourself.”

 

“You leaving for work now?”

 

“Yes. That was Kathryn Nolan on the phone. Now that her memories have been restored she’s been helping me with my re-election campaign again. Apparently I’m fully booked for the rest of the week speaking engagements and I have a press conference today. She’s recommended the vote be held on Saturday.”

 

“Already? Why so soon. It’s only October.”

 

“Kathryn thinks it will be a good idea to hold the election now to capitalise on my contribution to breaking the Curse.”

 

“Or it could backfire and remind people why you cast it in the first place, Your Majesty.”

 

“Yes, there is that possibility,” Regina said dryly. “In any case, I’d rather have this over and done with.”

 

“So you can get back to doing me?” Emma waggled her eyebrows. Her innuendo never failed to bring a wry smirk out of her girlfriend.

 

“Later, if you’re lucky. Now you’d better go shower or you’ll be late to work. I don’t pay you to sleep in, Sheriff. I’ll drop Henry off at school. He’s missed the bus. Again.”

 

Emma called her back just as she passed through the doorway. “Hey, Regina, what did Henry mean before about some event? Are you planning something you’re not telling me about? You’re not masterminding any evil plans behind my back again are you. What are you up to?”

 

Instead of answering Regina waved casually and gave an enigmatic smile before she left. “Happy Birthday, dear. See you tonight.”

 

_ Oh _ .

 

 

* * *

 

_ Sheriff Station _

 

Emma walked into her office feeling as though it had been a hundred years since she’d last been at work, yet there was a certain comfort in returning to the place of the first job she’d ever had that was secure and where people appreciated her help. As a bailbondsperson she had mainly dealt with people who were trying to escape, swindle, or sometimes harm her in their efforts at evading justice.

 

It hardly bothered her to be at work on her birthday for once. In fact, knowing that she had family to come home to in the evening for the first time ever was enough to make her bursting with anticipation. She wasn’t sure whether Regina had made any plans for tonight but was secretly hoping that she’d get to spend it with  _ all _ of her family. Even if all they did was eat cake and sit around watching Netflix it would far outstrip the ways she’d spent her last 30 or so birthdays combined.

 

This year she had her True Love, she had her son, and she had her parents. Emma couldn’t help being amazed that she’d finally won the orphan lottery and been gifted with a family of her own. The part inside of her that was her teenage self, Em, was jumping with excitement after so many years of feeling unwanted and alone. There was also a part of her, deep in her mind, that whispered  _ “you don’t deserve any of this” _ and  _ “it won’t last” _ but she gave that voice a mental punch in the face.

 

This was a very special birthday indeed. A ‘banner year’ with no trace of sarcasm to the term. She would have to make a real effort not to grin like a lunatic all day.

 

There was only one question nibbling at the edge of her happiness and it had been there since Ri had disappeared before the curse had broken for the final time. Regina had been evasive in explaining how she’d known her teenage self had gone back to the past. Emma, however, remembered both being wrenched back to the past from a jail cell  _ and _ the restoration of Em’s memories in her adult self’s mind. She was both Em and Emma now.

 

The town was now under no threat so the question was back in her mind: did Regina remember being Ri?

 

The Sheriff wasn’t sure what difference it would make if she did or didn’t, but the only thing she knew was that she wanted to know one way or the other. Their relationship had always been reciprocal whether that was through love or resentment. Somehow it wouldn’t make sense if only one of the girls came through it, if only one of them lived to know it was worth living through a damaging childhood in order to reach this horizon of future happiness.

 

She spied a box of donuts waiting on the desk next to which a colourful foil helium balloon floated in the air.

 

Emma heard footsteps on the linoleum and was captured in a giant bear hug. Even if she hadn’t seen his charming smile or recognised the scent and presence of her father, when she felt the palm of a large hand cradling her head as if it were floppy like a newborn’s she would’ve known who it was. Only her dad did that.

 

“Emma!” said David, happily wrapping her in his arms. “Happy Birthday, kiddo.”

 

“Thanks… Dad,” she chuckled. The word still felt new in her mouth.

 

“It’s good to see you! Even better that I don’t have to arrest you, like I almost had to when Em first turned up here. I miss the girls already but to be honest it was exhausting trying to keep both of you out of trouble.” 

 

Emma pretended to be offended. “Hey, I don’t cause that much trouble anymore.”

 

“I know, I think trouble happens  _ to _ you.” David drew back and recounted a memory from the day she was born. “Even when you were this big,” he held out his palms about a foot apart like he was holding an invisible loaf of bread. “Trouble was unfolding all around you but I could tell how brave you were. I remember it like it was yesterday.”

 

Lost in thought David’s eyes glazed over as he remembered. “You were… amazing. So tiny and beautiful. I couldn’t believe I had a little life in my arms and I was terrified. My  _ daughter _ ! I would’ve died to protect you… But I failed. On the first day of your life I failed you as a father.”

 

“Hey, no!” Emma put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes. “I lived, I’m here, and it’s my special day. So I say you stop beating yourself up about the past and tell me what I’m getting for my birthday. Henry said something about an event -- do you know anything about that? Tell me!”

 

“No way,” David shook his head. “I’m sworn to secrecy. Regina would kill me ... and with her, any excuse would do so I’d better keep quiet. It’s self preservation. Now, do you want a donut?”

 

“Of course.” Emma rolled her eyes and turned to go to her desk to start the day of not-much-work. The first thing on her agenda was coffee and one or three bearclaws. Who knew, birthdays actually could be as good as people said they were.

 

“Oh, Emma?” said David, shrugging off his leather jacket and hanging it next to hers.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Go visit your mother today. It would mean a lot to her.”

 

 

* * *

 

_ Town Hall lawn _

 

At the same time that Emma was settling into a nice easy workday Regina was giving a press conference over at Town Hall and having a decidedly less pleasant start to hers.

 

The Mayor stood facing an assortment of concerned Storybrooke residents who had come to hear what she had to say. To the side where Kathryn had banished them were a slew of reporters with cameras and microphones capturing every word, no doubt eager to twist and turn those words against her in the following day’s print. 

 

On the lectern in front of Regina lay a stack of reports, policies, and budgets containing her plans for Storybrooke’s continued improvements -- but they were as yet unopened. Before she had even had a chance to start outlining her political vision the questions regarding her past deeds started coming thick and fast.

 

The former queen understood it. They were angry and they’d had no outlet for it and had received no apology. Some thought she was still the villain she had been for so many years during her reign in the other land. Others were open to the idea that she had redeemed herself particularly in saving the town recently. Now they were all being asked to vote her back into power, which would make themselves vulnerable to her again. 

 

To their credit most of the questions were not wholly stupid. To her credit Regina managed to answer them with due remorse and explain how she had changed and why.

 

The tide turned when they started grilling her in detail about her brutal past which led to an argument in the crowd over who among them had suffered the worst. Kathryn kept a watchful eye and was shooting the Mayor questioning looks, wondering why she let it continue and whether an intervention was needed. She had her smartphone on speed dial to the Sheriff’s office just in case.

 

“If I may,” said Regina, raising her voice over the din. “I’d like to return to my future plans for Storybrooke-”

 

“Your Majesty!” A man stepped forward out of the throng with his hand raised. “One more thing.”

 

“I do not use that title any more. You may address me as Mayor Mills -- or Ms Mills if you don’t intend to vote for me.”

 

“Fair enough, Mayor Mills. Thanks for coming out here today to clear things up.” The man introduced himself as John Avery, formerly a farmer in the Enchanted Forest and now hardware shop owner of Storybrooke. He removed his baseball cap and ran a hand through his tousled blond hair. 

 

“Do you have a question? If not, we really need to move on.”

 

“Yeah, I have a question. You’re responsible for everything: why we’re here, why we lost our memories, and why we’ve recently got all our memories back?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I have a teenage daughter. You got a kid of your own?”

 

Regina smiled briefly. “Yes, I do. My son, Henry, is eleven.”

 

“And you have influence with the Office of the Sheriff?”

 

“If you are concerned about corruption I assure you that I have no power over the Sheriff’s decisions. I can’t even get her to stop leaving her shoes all around the house.”

 

Beside her, Kathryn smiled to herself when the crowd tittered at the self-effacing humour. It reminded them all of normalcy rather than regality. It showed the Mayor’s human side.

 

“It’s not that that concerns me,” said Avery. “Back in the Enchanted Forest I used to live in a wee village that nobody much cared about who didn’t live there. During the bad times, when your armies were going round searching for Snow White and anyone who was colluding with her, we heard rumours they were sacking our neighbours’ farms and houses. One night it was our village’s turn. We were too far out of the way to know anything but they burned us down anyway. That wasn’t the worst of it.” 

 

Avery cleared his throat of emotion, the crowd now was dead silent listening to his story. “They took my daughter as a... ‘reward’ they called it. She was fourteen then, not much older than your boy. She’s never forgotten it and neither have I.”

 

Regina set her jaw, remembering the events all too clearly and her involvement in them which she could not deny even if she were inclined to. She could feel her chances at reelection disintegrating as he spoke of his daughter’s assault. The worst part was that this was only one example out of thousands of terrible things she was responsible for.

 

“It were one of your soldiers that did it.”

 

The former queen nodded solemnly. “I know.”

 

Avery’s face hardened into a frown of disbelief. “You  _ know _ ? How can you remember my daughter out of all the innocent people you caused harm to or worse?”

 

“Hardly anyone is innocent,” said Regina, unable to restrain her dark tone for the first time since the questions started. Her heart began to pound. It was true that she couldn’t remember all of the people she’d killed; the part inside her that was Ri would lose sleep over it tonight.

 

“You brought all of us here from the Enchanted Forest and no-one’s had to pay for the crimes that were committed there -- not even you. The slate’s been wiped clean. Maybe  _ you _ have changed but how can I trust the other people around me. Is  _ he _ here too? How can I trust you as Mayor when it was your curse that brought my daughter’s attacker here!”

 

“You can trust me-” 

 

“That bastard is probably walking around Storybrooke right now as a free man.”

 

“He is not.”

 

“How can you be sure?”

 

“Because I killed him!” Regina said out of exasperation, her outburst sounded deafening even to her own ears. “I heard what happened and I cut both his hamstrings. He’s not  _ walking _ around anywhere.”

 

Shocked murmurs broke out in the audience. Shutters clicked and flashes whirred as the cameras leapt into action to capture the moment of the Mayor losing her composure. 

 

Regina felt rather than heard Kathryn step up to the microphone to announce a break, the crowd groaned before being assured that the Mayor would be back to continue the discussion in half an hour’s time. Her re-election advisor then took her aside by the elbow and handed her a bottle of water. They were still in public view but mostly away from the crowd who were just visible through the gaps in the columnwork.

 

“Are you ok?” said Kathryn. “That was… less than ideal.”

 

Regina sighed and covered her face with her palm. “It was to be expected.”

 

“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea allowing the public to attend. They completely railroaded you into talking about the past. Why did you engage with them?”

 

“What right do I have to stop people from obsessing over the grievances in the past when I’ve done it myself to disastrous effect.”

 

“But Regina! What that man said... I’m sure it is true but it could be very damaging to your campaign. Not that I think we should lie or erase your past… But we want to focus on how you’ve turned it all around and what you plan to do in future. Did you really um…?”

 

“Did I really kill the soldier involved?”

 

Kathryn winced, confirming that was indeed her question.

 

“Of course I did. He disobeyed orders.”

 

Regina checked her watch and sighed for the umpteenth time that day. There would only just be enough time to go use the washroom and freshen up before returning to face the accusations. She told Kathryn where she was going and added:

 

“Go find Avery and tell him to meet me in my office after the public are gone. I want to apologise personally, to his daughter too if possible, and refer them to the sexual assault counselors at KidSpace. Even if I am not re-elected as Mayor I can still try to help some of the people in this town.”

 

As Kathryn watched the former Evil Queen walk away, her perfect posture unaffected by an ankle brace and skyhigh Prada heels, she thought to herself,  _ “That’s exactly why you’re going to win this time...”  _

 

 

* * *

 

_ Storybrooke Elementary _

 

It was the anniversary of the best and worst day of Mary Margaret’s life. The day she’d given birth to her daughter, a much-loved and anticipated child, only to have her ripped out of her arms and sent off to an unknown realm. She’d sacrificed her daughter in the hopes that one day she would save everyone. She’d thought she was giving Emma her best chance. A better chance than certain death or enslavement to an Evil Queen who no longer existed. 

 

If she’d known then that her child would face growing up in an indifferent and sometimes cruel environment she may not have been able to let her go in the first place.

 

Had she made the right decision?

 

The fact that it had turned out more-or-less okay in the end was her only consolation and as a precious fairytale-loving boy often said: “ _ It’ll be ok in the end and if it’s not ok it’s not the end _ ”...

 

Miss Blanchard was at her desk in her classroom which was empty of children who were at recess playing outside. It wasn’t her day for playground duty so instead of socialising in the teacher’s lounge she’d decided to eat lunch alone while getting a bit of grading done. It wasn’t much of a distraction from thinking about the past though. Until the beloved subject of her thoughts turned up.

 

“Hey Mary Margaret.”

 

The schoolteacher snapped out of her daze to see her daughter standing there holding a Granny’s takeaway bag. “Emma!”

 

Emma seemed a little awkward and fidgety. “Are you busy? If you are I can come back later-”

 

“No!” Mary said hastily. “Never too busy for you. Oh, I’m so happy to see you!” 

 

Mary Margaret leapt to her feet and reached over to pull Emma into a hug. For a moment it felt like she was holding her for the first time. The constant ache she’d felt for 28 years to have her baby in her arms quietened. 

 

When she drew back she could see some uncharacteristic shyness in the other woman’s face. Of course, she realised, it must be difficult for Emma today being her first birthday with her family. There would be a lot of pressure on her and the last thing the former Snow White wanted to do was add to it.

 

“I’m so glad you’re here. I’m so happy that I get to see you on your birthday for the first time ever. Oh, I’m all aflutter. Happy Birthday!”

 

“Thanks, Mary Margaret.” 

 

“I… there’s so much I want to tell you.” Mary Margaret laughed at herself, still feeling a bit giddy. “But I don’t know what to say first.”

 

The Sheriff’s lips quirked. “Say you’ll sit and have lunch with me?”

 

“Of course I will! Here, sit down.”

 

Emma grabbed one of the student chairs and dragged it next to the teacher’s desk so she could sit down while they ate. Then she dumped the contents of the Granny’s takeaway bag n to the desk and out fell a couple of white paper parcels, one of which contained a cheeseburger by the smell of it. The blonde pushed one of the other bags towards Mary Margaret.

 

“Got you something for dessert,” said Emma, poking one of the packages. “It’s a Pistachio cookie.”

 

Mary Margaret bit her lips, remembering the time when Em had performed the same gesture and gotten angry when she’d lied. She really didn’t want to make the same mistake again. 

 

“Oh um, that’s very thoughtful of you, sweetheart. I don’t like pistachios, but I’m sure it’s a very nice cookie and- … um-”

 

Emma grinned. “I know. Relax. I’m joking.” 

 

Her mischievous daughter checked inside the bag and then switched it with one of hers. “ _ This _ one is yours. White chocolate and macadamia. One hundred percent guaranteed no pistachios.”

 

“Thank you.” The schoolteacher was aware that her voice came out with a squeak. She was only just holding back tears. Tears of joy that she had her daughter, both the grownup and the teenage version. Her beautiful baby girl had turned out even more amazing than she could’ve hoped.

 

Mary couldn’t keep the tears out of her voice. “I’m just so glad I didn’t lose you -- either of you. Em’s in there somewhere isn’t she?”

 

“Yeah.” Emma smiled. “I’m here.”

 

“I’m so proud to have you as my daughter. I loved you before you were born, I loved you when were a brat of a teenager, and I love you even more now each day that I get to know you better. I’m so sorry for everything, for not being there for you when you were little and seeing you grow up. But you’ve become such a wonderful person on your own. You had such a hard upbringing but all it did was make you good. You’re a hero. You saved us all. I knew you would.”

 

It was Emma saving her again when she covered Mary Margaret’s hand with her own as a gesture of forgiveness. 

 

“Mom. It’s ok.”

 

Mary Margaret thought her heart might have stopped in her chest at the word. “Really?”

 

Emma nodded. “Yeah, I’m … getting there.” The two of them ate their lunches in companionable silence for a few minutes before she spoke again. “Actually, I was wondering… can I ask your advice about something?”

 

Mary Margaret brightened up like the sun. “Sure. Anything.”

 

So much had happened recently and over the last few months while the teenage girls had been in Storybrooke. There was a lot they were all still trying to process. Emma took her time trying to explain how she felt about it -- finding out about her past first hand and how she now remembered being Em and coming to Storybrooke as a teenager. She was coming to terms with it all but one thing was holding her back.

 

“I dunno what it is,” said Emma. “Why I can’t just let it go...”

 

“What are you really afraid of,” said Mary Margaret.

 

The dam broke and Emma confessed her worries. “What if Regina doesn’t remember being Ri. What if she doesn’t remember and I tell her I  _ do _ remember being Em and she’s angry about it. Or hurt? I don’t want to be the only one who survived. I need Ri too.”

 

“Do you think she remembers?”

 

“Yeah! I do. That’s why it’s weird. But if she does, why wouldn’t she tell me?”

 

“Well, you haven’t told her either.” The schoolteacher pointed out. “Maybe she thinks  _ you  _ don’t remember.”

 

“She’s so frustrating sometimes!”

 

The Sheriff scrunched up the bag her lunch came in into a ball and tossed it towards the bin in the corner of the room. The ball of paper hit the rim and bounced off. She’d missed.

 

Mary Margaret stifled a giggle. “Luckily you didn’t miss with the True Love Potion. Henry’s told everyone what you did to save our happy endings -- he says you took a ‘stupid risk’ throwing the potion into the well from such a great distance.”

 

“No prizes for guessing where he got those exact words from. He’s like a mini-Mayor Mills sometimes.”

 

As Emma spoke, a few beeps and a buzz came from in her jeans pocket. She retrieved her phone to see a new text message, which she read and then looked back up at Mary Margaret, half confused, half hopeful.

 

“It’s from Regina. She wants me to meet her tonight. In the place where we first met.”

 

“Where’s that?”

 

_ Exactly _ , thought Emma. She only had the rest of the afternoon to figure it out.

 

 

* * *

 

Later that evening, Emma scuffed her boot into the dirt as she waited in the forest on the outskirts of Storybrooke.  She was a stone’s throw away from the townline and could see the reverse of the ‘Welcome to Storybrooke’ sign in the fading light. She’d gotten there early, which in hindsight was a mistake because it only gave her more time to pace, agitating about what was going to happen. 

 

So far she was alone and Regina was late, making Emma wonder whether she was in the right spot after all. 

 

Regina’s message hadn’t specified which place she’d meant when she said ‘ _ where they’d first met’ _ . If the Mayor remembered being Ri then she might’ve been referring to when they’d met in the woods as teenage girls… If she didn’t remember, then it would be the doorstep of 108 Mifflin Street.

 

Emma had taken a gamble, hoping that Ri still existed in the memories of her older self though at the same time wondering why Regina had kept it a secret until now.

 

She was about to find out. 

 

Emma checked her watch again, it was after 6pm already and it was becoming dark and cold. It was dead quiet this far out of town. Her breath clouded the air in front of her face. There was no sign of anyone else here yet. She was starting to entertain the idea that she was in the wrong place but not ready to give up hope yet.

 

The sound of crunching leaves underfoot as someone approached and she didn’t need to guess who it would be. Emma’s heart jumped and she grinned to herself.

 

“Careful,” warned the Sheriff. “Don’t sneak up on me. I’m all kinds of trouble.”

 

“I know,” said a very familiar voice. “You’re more trouble than anyone I’ve ever known.”

When she turned around she saw Regina, not bothering to hide a smirk as she stood behind her looking regal as ever, bundled up in gloves and scarves against the chilly night air. She’d made the right choice. They were both here in the woods so that meant...  _ Surely it meant that Regina was Ri and she remembered everything? _

 

“You’re a ‘karate in black belt’ if I remember correctly.” said Regina.

 

“You remember that?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Emma nodded, remembering the first conversation she’d had with Ri when they’d met. It had been the most perfect moment of her life. There was no way Regina could’ve known that reference unless she’d been there herself. 

 

Emma couldn’t resist needling her girlfriend. “You said to meet you at six. That was ten minutes ago.”

 

“Sorry I’m late.”

 

“No, you’re not.”

 

“No, I’m not. A Queen is never late, everyone else is simply early.”

 

Emma rolled her eyes, regretting showing her so many princess movies when they were teenagers. “Well, if you came here looking for Em she’s not here.”

 

“If  _ you _ came here looking for Ri she’s not here either.”

 

“No,” Emma smiled. “They’re both long gone. It’s just us now.”

 

Regina smiled back. “It’s always been us, Em.”

 

Brimming with relief, Emma went to her and enveloped her childhood sweetheart in a hug. She pulled back slightly and was struck for the millionth time by her beauty. The young girl of noble-but-disgraced background, naive and kind yet loved by fewer than she deserved, had survived a painful forced marriage and then clawed her way back from the darkness years later to become the strong woman before her whom she loved with all her heart. 

 

She swallowed against the lump of emotion in her throat and took the other woman’s gloved hands so she could tuck them into the pockets of her own jacket. Needing more contact, she tightened the hug again.

 

“I’m so glad you’re here, Ri,” Emma murmured into silky dark hair. “I’ve missed you. Feels like I haven’t seen you in a long time but also like you’ve been with me the whole time. I remember being Em. You remember everything too, don’t you? Ri?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

 

“I don’t know,” Regina admitted, the blush in her cheeks only just visible in the fading daylight. “I was - ... my past -... I wasn’t sure what you would think now...”

 

“Shh, don’t worry about that anymore. The past is finally back where it belongs and all I care about now is our future together. Specifically, I’m  _ very _ interested in whatever you have in store for me tonight.”

 

“Classic Em Swan,” Regina muttered. “How do you do that. Change tack so quickly?”

 

Emma couldn’t hide her giddiness any longer, a side effect of her earlier nerves. “Because I am done with the past and I’m  _ so _ ready for my happy ending if you know what I mean.”

 

“That’s all well and good but I’m not sure if we can entirely ignore the effect of the past. I had a reminder of that today at the press conference.”

 

“Yeah, but we have a choice don’t we? Our pasts were miserable but we can’t keep letting it ruin things for us now. Screw it. Let’s just be happy.”

 

Regina nodded slowly. “I think I’m as happy as I’m capable of being.”

 

Emma detected a hint of sadness still, and although that melancholy probably always would be a part of Regina she’d decided to do her damned best to help her move on. Something must’ve happened at the press conference today for Regina to be indulging in such maudlin self-deprecation. Luckily she knew something that might pull her out of it. “I got a call from Archie. He was at KidSpace this afternoon.”

 

“Oh? What is the cricket chirping about now.”

 

“He said you saved a young girl’s life today. I have no idea what you did but obviously it was something good. Even if it didn’t seem like much.”

 

Dr Hopper hadn’t said anything more than that on the phone. But clearly he’d wanted the Mayor to get the message. Someone had been helped and someone had noticed it. 

 

Regina was shaking her head, looking both overwhelmed with emotion and like she was about to deny her part in it when Emma held up a hand. 

 

“Don’t argue,” said the Sheriff. “Just let it sink in.”

 

“Very well,” said Regina. “But I reserve the right to argue with you about something else later.”

 

Emma just laughed. “I’d expect nothing less. Come on. Let me take you home, princess.”

 

“Princess?” Regina raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at Em’s nickname for Ri. “That’s your title, dearest. As a Queen, I outrank you.”

 

“As if. You got dethroned and exiled a million years ago. This is the real world now.”

 

“Fine. Here I’m the Mayor.”

 

“Not ye-eeeet,” Emma sang, sliding an arm around the curmudgeonly woman’s waist. She leaned in so that she could talk softly just below Regina’s hair, letting her voice tickle and disturb the brunette’s locks. “The election’s on Saturday and you’ve yet to win my vote. But I’m sure you’ll think of something to convince me. It is my birthday after all.”

 

“Your fantasies will have to wait a few hours. We’re due at Granny’s soon. Henry and your parents are waiting for us with a small gathering of friends. Please act surprised.”

 

Emma cringed. “Oh god, they’ve planned a surprise party for me?”

 

At this point, Regina was nearly immune to the pout apparently. “I tried to dissuade them but you know what your mother is like.”

 

“So that’s what everyone’s talking about behind my back- this event? It’s my surprise party?”

 

“No, that’s something else altogether. You’ll find out on Saturday.”

 

Emma groaned, exaggerating her annoyance. She really was going to have to get used to having parents and everything that entailed. “Fine! Let’s go then.”

 

In a rare instance of forbearance, Regina let the birthday girl have the last word and magically transported them to the not-so-surprise party in a cloud of purplish black smoke.


	72. The event horizon

 For the first time ever it turned out to be Regina who couldn't keep her own secret. Mostly because the event that she'd been planning involved the entire town so it was impossible to keep the whole thing underwraps. Word had gotten around when flyers were put up around town inviting everyone to:

STORYBROOKE'S FIRST ANNUAL SAVIOUR DAY FAIR!

A magical celebration of the founding of our town

FOOD

GAMES

PRIZES

FUN!

The event was going to be held on Saturday, the same day as the Mayoral election, and was intended to commemorate the first day that Storybrooke came into existence which also happened to be the birthday of the Saviour, the daughter of the Royal leaders of the old realm, Snow White and Prince Charming. Emma had already had her actual birthday during the week but the event was scheduled for the following weekend so that everyone could come.

The Sheriff had been less than impressed about the name of the event. Her surprise party, only attended by close friends and family, had been challenge enough to deal with. But now this! She'd turned up at Town Hall with a flyer she'd swiped from a noticeboard, demanding to know why on earth the Mayor thought this would be a good idea. After all, she'd been a reluctant addition to the town and it had taken her a long time to accept her role here. Celebrating herself as The Saviour™ with an entire day named after her seemed a bit… pretentious.

" _Saviour_  Day?" Emma complained. "I thought the idea of this thing was to distract people from your election. Why did you have to make it all about me?"

"I didn't decide on the name," said Regina with a sigh. "It was the Council's decision. I know you don't care for the attention but it's not really about you. This is for the people of Storybrooke. They're grateful to you, the least you could do is let them show it."

"So I save the town yet again and I still have to play the role of self-effacing hero for them? Well it makes me feel crappy. I was been abandoned by everyone who was supposed to care for me and then ignored my entire life. Now suddenly I'm everybody's favourite princess and I'm the centre of attention for something I didn't even want. They think I'm something I'm not. I can't deal with this."

"Yes you can."

"But I don't want to."

"Don't pout, dear."

"Argh!"

Emma vented her frustration loudly and paced a few steps before moving around behind Regina's desk so that she could sit on it and face the Mayor with a huff.

The problem for Regina was that she looked too inviting sitting there. It probably wouldn't take much convincing for the Sheriff to lean back a little and give access her to her neck, the buttons of her shirt, the zip of her tight dark blue jeans… Regina promised herself that she would offer to provide a distraction to her later that night, one that she was sure would be well received.

Regina smiled to herself and then went back to her paperwork and patted Emma's thigh, as a gesture of either encouragement or comfort or perhaps just to connect with her physically for a moment. She knew the former orphan still had difficulties coming to terms with her hero/Royal Princess/Saviour status. Neither of them would ever be perfect but both women had come a long way. With a little help from their younger selves of course.

"Sorry," Emma said gruffly. "I'm being a snot aren't I."

"Yes," said Regina. "Actually you are."

"Hey, you didn't have to agree with me!"

"I thought you wanted me to be more agreeable?"

"You're impossible. Such a bad girlfriend. Just the worst."

Regina pursed her lips into a moue. "That's not what you were saying this morning when you were begging me for release you from a certain torture. I wasn't sure whether you would enjoy that particular move but you certainly seemed to."

"God yes!" Emma sucked in a breath. "Thanks a lot.  _Now_  how am I supposed to get through the day with that image in my head."

"You could go back to work and let me get on with mine."

"In a minute. How's the election stuff coming?"

"Disastrously."

Regina pushed back into her chair, momentarily allowing an air of defeat in her posture which was very unlike her. All week she'd been fielding press questions, juggling interviews, and meeting with concerned citizens over her election issues and plans for continued improvement of the town. She'd been doing her best at being diplomatic and fair but laying herself open to so much criticism was eroding her confidence.

According to Kathryn there was an torrential amount of hate about the former Evil Queen on social media. The focus groups from Thursday had descended into an all-out slur fest with racists, misogynists, and homophobes hijacking every discussion. In addition, the latest polls indicated that if the election had been held yesterday the result would've been overwhelming against Regina Mills officially resuming her position as Mayor.

It was surprising actually just how many irrational reasons people had to hate her and how wilfully they misread her.

Regina knew now that she wasn't going to win.

It had always been a long shot. She wondered idly if she'd ever really had a chance or whether it had been pointless to get her hopes up like a fool. Whenever she caught herself thinking such thoughts her eyes fell upon the silver framed photo of Henry that stood proudly on her desk. It reminded her of why she would not back down. She would accept the outcome of Saturday, whether she won or lost, but she refused to give up without trying. For her son's sake.

"Are you sure you're not being a bit defeatist?" asked Emma.

Regina didn't reply. Instead she just raised her eyebrows and picked up a folded up copy of the Storybrooke Daily Mirror to show Emma the theme of the latest election news coverage. The giant block letters of the frontpage headline read 'VOTE NO EVIL WITCH' and accompanied a full account of all her past deeds. The hard part was that most of it was true.

Emma caught sight of the paper's front page. "Ah. Nice headline."

"For the 16th century maybe," said Regina. "It's Sidney's work but he's not the only one printing such articles. The press is against me. Everyone is against me."

"Hey," said Emma with a soft smile. "You don't know that. The haters are very loud so it seems like there's more of them. They make the world a shittier place and even though it's tempting to want to boot them across the town line - we can't."

"Unfortunately. Sometimes I think it's a shame I don't kill and torture people anymore."

"Yeah, but you have changed. Ignore all of the people who can't see that and trust that there are enough good people out there who can."

* * *

_Mary Margaret's apartment, Friday night_

"Where's Regina tonight?" David asked as soon as Emma walked in the door with only Henry in tow.

"Holding one last press conference before the election tomorrow," said Emma. She heading over to pull up a stool in front of the kitchen bench where her mother was preparing dinner.

Henry hopped up on to the stool next to her though it was clear he was going to be too fidgety to sit still for long.

Mary Margaret noticed him wiggling. "What's gotten into you, Henry?"

"Mom's going to be on TV!" said Henry, excited. "It's on soon. We have to make sure we don't miss it ok?"

"Sure thing, buddy." David chuckled. The boy ran to the TV set to tune the knobs to the correct station so that it would be ready. Storybrooke, though no longer cursed, was still clinging to 1980s technology. The TV even had a set of rabbit ear aerials that might've once began their life as a clothes hanger.

"Do you know what she's going to be saying?" Mary Margaret asked her daughter.

Emma shrugged. "Nope. But she's been writing the speech for days. Wouldn't let me read any of it either. It's pretty much the last chance she's got to win votes. She does like having the last word though."

"I can't see her grovelling for the town's forgiveness but I am sure Regina will speak her mind. Oh, I so hope she wins tomorrow!"

"Yeah, me too."

"Do you think it's likely?" Mary Margaret scrunched her face. "I've seen some of the things they've been printing in the paper. It's not looking good is it."

"To be honest it's a tough call," Emma conceded. "Regina's platform is based on her ability to govern Storybrooke as a safe place for families but unfortunately that just raises questions about her own family values and character. Mrs Gander's cronies have rallied against us and with all their connections at the school they have garnered a bunch of anti-gay nonsense. There've been a few protests and scuffles I've had to take care of. Kathryn's doing her best as campaign manager to get the right messages out there. When you put the politics of it aside Regina's actually a good Mayor in terms of administrating the town. I'm just not sure it'll be enough to counter the hate."

"Well, stranger things have happened in Storybrooke. As we've experienced recently."

"True." Emma smiled and nodded, knowing that her mother was referring to two magical time-travelling teenagers whose presence nearly caused the town to shrink out of existence before they were sent back to the past.

Mary Margaret smiled wistfully. "Is it strange that I miss the girls?"

"Sort of. We're still here. Kinda."

"I know you are. I'm grateful we had so much time to get to know you both when you were young. But now it feels as if it was over in an instant."

"Maybe time is weird like that. Like when Henry twisted our brains into pretzels trying to explain the physics of time-travel to us which I still don't understand."

"It's physics," the schoolteacher said wryly. "Nobody understands it and if you think you do then you really don't. My 8th graders certainly don't."

"Mom! Grandma! Grandpa!" Henry called from the living room. "Come quick. Mom's speech is starting."

The Charming Family gathered around the TV, settling into comfortably distressed lounge chairs together so they could hear what the Mayoral candidate had to say. Mary Margaret and David leaned into each other and smiled, knowing that no matter what happened their grandchild, daughter, and daughter-in-law would get through it together as a family.

Henry turned the knob on the ancient TV set to increase the volume as his mother's face appeared on screen. Regina looked much the same as usual, dressed in one of her impeccably professional suits and seated at the desk in her office at Town Hall facing the camera directly.

Regina looked every bit the professional but Emma knew her well enough to detect the almost imperceptible tension in her shoulders.

" _People of Storybrooke,"_  Regina's TV image greeted them. " _I think I can safely say without arrogance that all of you know who I am_ _. For years you may have only known me as the town Mayor and long before that as the Evil Queen who cursed the entire realm. It is a little known fact that I did not cast the curse out of jealousy over Snow White's beauty. The truth of it is a family matter between her and myself. Perhaps you feel you deserve answers and will demand to know the full story... but you will not hear it from me. It is my private pain and all I will say is that it involves avenging more than one crushed heart. She and I have made our peace."_

Out of the corner of her eye Emma noticed Mary Margaret swipe at a happy tear that started to fall down her cheek and snuggled into her husband's arms as they listened to their former arch nemesis. To think that Regina had tried to destroy their lives so many times and yet had been able to redeem herself to the point where she was now part of their family. It was amazing. Snow White's faith and belief in her former stepmother had not been misplaced.

The broadcast went on.

" _The curse to end all curses was not entirely unfair. Each of you was granted a place in society commensurate with your wealth and status in the other land. Your jobs were assigned based on skills already possessed and the appropriate knowledge was bestowed upon you. Now that we all can appreciate the differences between the modern world and where we came from, I'm sure you will agree that the various technologies and conveniences in the fields of health, education, and living standards are not unwelcome. I take full responsibility for raising you from dirty pestilential disease-ridden times to this world, where each of you has rights, a voice, and a vote. You will exercise such privilege tomorrow at the ballots._

" _For many years I was the only one who knew the truth. Until my perceptive and incorrigible son grew old enough to notice that something wasn't right here in Storybrooke. I have few regrets about my past, but allow me to admit that the greatest shame I feel is over how I treated my son last year."_

It was there that Regina paused and allowed the tiniest discomfort to show on her face. She looked down at some notes on her desk for a brief moment, appearing to collect her composure before continuing on with her apology.

Emma was certain she'd never been so proud of her son's mother as at that moment. Her chest felt as though it were going to burst with pride. She gathered Henry by the shoulder to pull him closer into a hug as they both watched the most important person in their lives open up her heart live on air.

" _Henry,"_  Regina spoke to the cameras but it was as though she were facing him in person. " _I'm sorry I acted like I didn't believe you and for implying that your beliefs made you crazy. You know me better than anyone alive and that's exactly why you saw through the elaborate lies I created. I offer no justification and seek no forgiveness because there should be none. I failed you as your mother in that regard and again earlier this year when I sought to win you back by magic. Who you love is your choice and I only endeavour to deserve it. I loved you from the first moment I saw you and I always will."_

"Love you too, Mom," said Henry, his lopsided smile wide across his face. It was truly adorable how excited and proud he was to see his mother on TV, telling the entire town the very truth that he'd spent so long trying to convince everyone of. Fairytales were real and everyone deserved a happy ending, even Evil Queens.

" _As for this town and the people in it, we are all under the protection of someone who is far too modest and embarrassed to call herself a 'saviour' but she is exactly that. I'm sure I'll pay for this later but you all deserve to hear her story since you won't find it in any book of tales. Her sacrifice was to spend her young life alone, devoid of happy childhood memories, bereft of family and friends. It was not her choice. All of that was given up on her behalf in the hope that one day the curse would break. I owe her my life several times over, as I'm convinced there were and still are many who would see me burn for what I've done. But she saw good in me when there was none, she gave me a chance, my last and final chance to change. She believed in me and that was all I needed to save myself. Tomorrow, at our first Saviour Day we will honour the sacrifices that were made so that our lovely town Storybrooke could exist."_

At this point Emma was blushing hard with embarrassment, conscious that her parents were also beaming at the words. Her cheek muscles were sore from trying to suppress her dopey smiles. How was she supposed to preserve her tough Sheriff reputation with Regina spouting that kind of sap?! Some of it was pure sweet Ri and some the unequivocal Queen. But she loved her all the more for it.

Thankfully Regina turned the topic back to the imminent election.

" _Often in politics or indeed life in general, we are faced with hard choices where we dislike all of the available options. You will be faced with one such decision at the polls. I am your only candidate for Mayor and though I have plenty of relevant skills and experience I also remain a risk to you, moderated only by my own recently-repaired conscience. There is simply no-one else suitable for the job. I am the lesser of two evils, the greater evil being the soft rule of the former Snow White. I assure you she has yet to master civic economics and her time is much better spent enriching the imaginations of our children so that they may grow up believing themselves to be the heroes of their own stories."_

The broadcast ended there with the text 'VOTE 1 MILLS for MAYOR' displayed on the screen, leaving everyone in the room in stunned happy silence.

"Well," David grinned. "She's won my vote."

"And mine," said Mary Margaret, eyes shining with tears.

"Mom's going to win!" said Henry. "I just know it. What time is she coming home, Emma? We have to tell her how awesome she was."

Emma rustled her son's dark hair. "I'm sure Mom's got a few things to finish off and then she'll be here as soon as she can. We can tell her congratulations then. Be patient, kid."

Less than an hour later, a cloud of purple smoke and a knock at the door announced that Regina had finally finished work for the night, having done all she could to win as many hearts and minds as possible before the voting began the next morning.

The second she walked in the door she was almost bowled over by her son and her soulmate launching themselves into her arms for a family hug.

* * *

_Town Hall courtyard, Saturday_

Saviour Day and the day of the Mayoral election had arrived and the town was abuzz with excitement.

The voting booths were waiting inside the hall and ever since the doors opened at 9am there had been a steady trickle of people attending to cast their votes. But the real interest was in the fair that had been set up in the large courtyard nearby so that the citizens of Storybrooke could perform their civic duty and then enjoy the rest of the day's activities.

The ostensible purpose of the event was to celebrate Storybrooke but given that Emma's parents had been key organisers of the event it was really a massive belated first birthday party for their only daughter. There was a circus tent and petting zoo in one corner for the kids as well as firebreathers and performers walking around in Medieval dress as a homage to their fairytale origins. There were stalls for games and food of all kinds. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, if the delighted smiles of adults and laughter of children were anything to go by.

Regina turned up early together with Emma and Henry, however, they had to separate soon after so that the Mayor could make herself available to speak to voters with any last minute questions.

"I'll meet up with you both later," Regina promised them, looking over the throng to see Kathryn attempting to catch her attention. She gave her son a quick kiss and passed him some pocket money for the fair games. "Henry, don't let your mother eat too much junk. Someone needs to save the Saviour from herself."

"Hey!" protested Emma. "I'm the grownup here."

"Ok I will try. Good luck, Mom!" Henry waved and then ran off towards the nearest stall where two knights were demonstrating a swordfight.

Regina also gave a chaste kiss to Emma, who was already eyeing the cotton candy stand with interest. The Mayoral candidate shook her head ruefully at her girlfriend's predictable appetite for junk food and then headed over towards where Kathryn and the others were waiting.

Members from Snow White's War Council, including Archie, Marco, and the dwarves were standing along the path towards the voting booths, distributing flyers and speaking to voters about Regina's campaign issues.

"There's a lot of people who want to talk to you," said Kathryn, greeting her with an encouraging smile. "I think your TV appearance last night helped. Great speech."

"If I get any votes today it'll be due to your efforts," said Regina. "Thank you for managing the campaign by the way, it has been more help than I could expect from anyone."

"Of course I'd help my friend! You're very welcome."

Kathryn may have been the official campaign manager but it was Ruby and Ashley who had taken a grassroots approach to politics, appealing to the younger demographic and apparently they'd been quite successful in gathering support.

A veritable army of supporters were dotted among the crowd, noticeable because they were wearing black t-shirts printed with a rainbow and crown. The haters may have been loud in the leadup to the election but their voices were drowned out now by those who believed in fairness and forgiveness who were out in full force on the actual day.

Ashley ran up to them with a small toddler bouncing in her arms. Both she and the little baby girl were wearing the supporters t-shirts, which looked particularly odd on the former Cinderella because she'd paired them with denim pedal pushers and sparkly high heeled shoes. Ashley was also dragging a handsome young man behind her who she introduced as her husband, Sean. Behind them a stately old lady with a cantankerous look on her face was leaning on a walking frame which was parked under a nearby tree.

"Hi Kathryn," said Ashley in her bubbly way. "Hi Regina. Oof, can you hold Alexie for a minute please. She's getting heavy."

Regina's eyes went wide with shock as the baby's weight was unceremoniously dumped into her arms with little warning. The baby gurgled with delight and immediately tried to stuff her chubby fingers into Regina's mouth and Regina playfully pretended to bite them. Babies were much easier to win over than adult electors. Naturally there was a photographer nearby to capture a shot of the Mayoral candidate holding the baby, perfectly depicting the combination of politician and mother for the press.

"Do you like the shirts?" Ashley asked Regina. "My mothers group and I have been canvassing the streets and handing out merch all week. I've been telling everyone I know to vote for you."

"Which is everyone," said Sean.

"Very funny, babe. Anyway, I wanted to come say hi but I can't stay to chat. I promised I'd take my stepmother to see the fortune teller."

"God knows what she wants to hear about," said Sean wryly. "She's so old, it's not like she has much future left. Should she even get to vote?"

Ashley gave him a look even though she clearly wanted to laugh. "Stop it, Sean! She's horrible but she's still family. Come on, let's go. Bye ladies!"

Regina handed back the baby and then watched the young family leave to rejoin Ashley's evil stepmother. A flash of light glinted from Kathryn's hand caught Regina's eye when the campaign manger reached up to tuck her hair back. She was wearing a diamond set into a gold ring on her ring finger. Kathryn noticed her looking and held up her left hand to display the jewell.

"That's new," Regina commented, letting the question in her tone hang loose.

"It is," Kathryn beamed. "Now that I remember who I really am, Tommy and I are engaged again. I'm getting my happy ending - finally!"

"Congratulations."

Regina accepted Kathryn's hug, and in stark contrast to her what her old self's reaction would have been, her well-wishes were heartfelt. When they broke apart she let her eyes fall over the crowd of people milling about, families, couples, and friends united in celebrating the day. These days it didn't pain her to see other people happy. There was no need to interfere when she was being included in other people's lives. Plus she had her own sources of happiness now. She couldn't wait until her official duties were over so that she could spend the rest of the day with Emma and Henry.

"Looks like it's not just me who's getting their happy ending," said Kathryn.

Regina scanned the direction where Kathryn was looking. At one of the closest market stalls a vendor was selling hand-embroidered and quilted clothing in styles reminiscent of Enchanted Forest fashion. There was a young couple examining babywear: a short portly man wearing a beanie and a woman dressed entirely in a lurid pink and black Harajuku-style outfit. The man held out a onesie to his girlfriend's stomach as if to trial the size of it.

Astrid and Leroy noticed Regina looking their way and waved, huge smiles on their faces. The Patron Fairy and her dwarf must have been considering whether to start expanding their family, if they hadn't already done so.

The former queen smiled and said to herself. "Yes. It seems the happy endings are indeed returning to Storybrooke."

* * *

It had barely been an hour but Emma had lost sight of Henry already.

"Ok, calm down," the Sheriff muttered to herself. "He's a kid at a smalltown fair, not a needle in a haystack. All I have to do is find him before Regina finds out I lost him or I'm dead. I got this."

The place was packed with kids running around every which way. Finding people was supposed to be her thing but her powers had failed thus far. She'd already checked the coolest and grossest stalls and games first, figuring that those would be the likeliest places to attract an eleven-year-old boy. But no luck so far.

"Excuse me, Sheriff?" said a voice.

"Yeah?" Emma whirled around but didn't recognise who it was calling her name.

It was a young woman of about 19 years old with short cropped blonde hair wearing a sporty hoodie and jeans. "Hi, I'm Jess Meadows. I don't think you know me but my aunt knows your wife."

"My-?" Emma flushed. "Oh, you mean Regina. Well, we're not… yet. She's my girlfriend - partner- Call me Emma. Being called Sheriff makes me feel like I have to be a responsible adult."

Jess grinned. "Ok, Emma."

"Do you need help? I'm not here in my official capacity but if you need something..."

"I'm ok. Actually, I've been to Kidspace a few times lately, I was hoping to run into you there at some point. The Mayor told my aunt who told my Mom that you might be willing to give me some advice. I've been wanting to leave Storybrooke for a while and now that the curse is broken … I was hoping you could give me some tips about living in the outside world?"

"Of course. After all, there's not really anyone else in Storybrooke who can is there."

"Not really, no. Henry says you came here to bring back the happy endings. I think mine might be beyond the town line."

Emma smiled at the mention of her kid. "You know my son?"

"Yes, he's friends with my little cousin. Perhaps we can meet at Kidspace during the week for a chat? Right now I've got to get back to my family before they murder each other."

"Er… is that likely?" said Emma, unsure as to whether to be concerned.

Jess laughed. "Not unless the Queen herself commands it. That's them over there."

Jess pointed out a group of adults and children crowded around a large red tartan picnic rug that had been set up on the lawn. There were several picnic baskets full of food together with bottles of wine and balls and other games for the kids to play with scattered nearby. Two identical tow-headed boys were chasing another blond boy who was kicking a soccer ball dangerously close to where two other pairs of young people were sitting.

"That's my brother with the ball," said Jess. "He's fourteen, and the twins are my cousins, Jason and Jackson, they're thirteen. The girl in the flannel is my girlfriend, Lea Gander, and with her is her little brother, Ethan." Jess gestured to another pair sitting nearby, "And the cute little blondie in the karate uniform showing off to Henry is my cousin, Jenna. They're in the same class at school."

"Henry!" Emma sighed in relief, recognising her son amongst the troup. "So that's where he's been. I'm gonna put a tracking device on that kid, I swear."

Jess asked if Emma wanted to come join the family for a while, since Henry was already there, at least until Regina was free from her duties.

For a second Emma was tempted to refuse but there was no real reason why she shouldn't be open to making friends with these people. She'd hesitated in case they just wanted a piece of 'The Saviour', however, Jess seemed sincere in her offer. It wasn't the kind of social interaction Emma would normally accept but she would end up being glad she did.

The two of them walked over to the picnic setting, where she was welcomed with kind greetings. The first thing Emma did was ruffle her kid's hair and chastise him for running off.

"Are you trying to get me in trouble with your Mom, kid," she groused at him.

"Nope," said Henry cheekily. "You do that well enough all on your own."

Jenna looked up with a serious expression and said to Emma. "You should not enrage the Queen you know. It is ill-advised. She is formidable and does not suffer fools."

Emma bit back a laugh. "Yes, very true."

At that point, Jenna's father called over to the girl to tell her to lighten up in front of their guest. He introduced himself as Richard and explained that he had been one of Her Majesty's Elite Royal Guards in the other realm. The whole family in fact had been supporters of the Evil Queen, not her less savoury actions of course, but of the fact that she'd given them employment in a time of destitution. With his well-defined muscles obvious through his casual clothes this guy definitely looked dangerous even here; apparently he was now a personal trainer.

Jenna hung upon her father's every word as he told war stories about his former role as an Elite sparing few of the gory details. "Dad, tell us about the Ogre Wars again!"

"Once upon a time," Richard puffed up, ready to tell his tale of bloody battle. "There was this huge hideous monster who-"

"For heaven's sake, Richard, lighten up!" his wife Janet Meadows said in a voice of exasperation. "Excuse my strange family, Sheriff. We've met before, I'm Janet."

Emma had met the Meadowses before when she'd located little Jenna after the girl had disappeared the night she'd lost her memory. "Yeah, I remember. You're Regina's friend."

"I wouldn't presume to call myself her friend," said Janet, humble as ever. "But I did support the Queen in the other land and here I support the Mayor. We were first in line to vote for her this morning."

"I'm sure Regina's grateful. You have a lovely family by the way. Thanks for um, letting me and my kid intrude. He kinda invited himself over."

"It's no intrusion at all! You're both very welcome."

Janet then started plying her guest with as much picnic food as she could persuade her to accept. Before long Emma's plate was piled up with pizza rolls, BBQ skewers, and pasta salad. The second best part of all that awesome food was going to be triumphantly bragging to Regina that she hadn't stuffed herself on fair junk.

Just when she was really starting to feel comfortable their picnic was interrupted by pleas for help.

" _Help! Help! I need a Saviour!"_

A man dressed in rags as a medieval plague victim coughed melodramatically and then collapsed onto the picnic rug right in front of where Emma was sitting, now in shock and wondering if she ought to call for first aid. He continued his act of moaning in pain calling for 'a Saviour'.

"Uncle Miiike," said Jenna in annoyance. "Stop pretending. You're not sick, you're just being silly."

Janet reached over to slap her brother Mike's arm. "Stop trolling our guest, you idiot. Where's Peter?"

"Here." Another man arrived, dressed as a medieval doctor in robes and long curved beak, and apparently he was resigned to his role of plague victim-keeper. Peter joined them and apologised to Emma. "Please excuse my partner, Sheriff. Unfortunately he is entirely unaware of just how unfunny he is. It's sad really."

"It was only a joke," said Mike. "You know I've been dying to meet the Queen's Consort."

Emma choked on a mouthful of pizza roll. "C-con-... what?"

"What I mean is we're big fans of you, Sheriff Swan. I served as the Queen's Master of Horses in the other land and here I run Storybrooke's Fable Stables. Not that I ever dared to approach her but I saw the aftermath of the young Queen's heartbreak and it is marvellous to see her happy now. I myself have had to hide my relationship for decades simply because I committed myself to another man. Now that the curse is broken and you and the Mayor are flying the rainbow flag … let's just say that we've personally benefited."

"We can live more openly," finished Peter with a smile. "Everyone can."

Emma didn't know quite what to say to that. It was humbling to have had an effect on other people's lives in such a way, without even knowing what she'd been doing at the time. Maybe saving people wasn't only down to grand feats of magic but also small acts of everyday bravery.

Henry climbed over the rug to snuggle up to his mother. "See, I told you you'd bring back the happy endings," he said smugly.

Emma smiled. "You sure did."

"Can I have your attention please?" Archie's voice came over the crowd from a handheld loudspeaker. "If everyone could gather in the main courtyard in front of the podium. The count is complete and we'll be announcing the result shortly. The votes are in."

* * *

"Do you think she's ok?" said Emma, eyeing Regina up on the podium as they waited in the crowd. "She looks nervous. Do you think she looks nervous. I mean, I don't know. She's wearing her Mayor face, which is fine, she's beautiful, gorgeous actually. But maybe she's worried. What are we gonna do. Oh my god, what's taking Archie so long.  _Hurry up_!"

Mary Margaret and David exchanged a look that said they knew exactly who the nervous one was. Emma was fretting, her every thought spilling out of her, and Henry was bursting with excitement as they waited for the election result. The rest of the crowd was also abuzz with anticipation, although only the people who cared about hearing the result ASAP were waiting - the rest were still enjoying the fair.

"Ugh, I'm gonna throw up," muttered Emma. "I can't take this. What if she doesn't win. She'll be crushed. Oh god, oh god, oh god."

"Mom, over here!" said Henry, bouncing on his toes. He waved to his mother on stage, proud as punch. When she waved back he started a little jig complete with song. "She's gonna win, she's gonna win, she's gonna win."

"Stop. Don't jinx it, kid."

"I'm not! I know Mom's gonna win."

"Are you sure? How do you know. Argh, I can't tell! It could go either way."

Mary Margaret placed a calm hand on her daughter's arm. "Emma, honey. Breathe. You're taking ten years off all our lives."

Emma scowled and exhaled the breath she'd been holding. "Haahha. It's just - I really want this for her. She's worked too hard to just lose it all again and she deserves to get her job back. Besides, she'll drive me crazy if she has nothing to do."

David placed an arm around Emma's shoulders for a side-hug. "No matter what happens, remember she'll always have you and Henry. You guys have been through much worse than this and won."

"Yeah," Emma nodded too quickly. "It's gonna be fine. Of course it is."

Henry started singing louder. " _She's gonna win, she's gonna win, she's gonna win-"_

"ARGH, kid!"

* * *

As a former Queen, Regina was not disposed towards being kept waiting.

After Archie had called her up to the podium in preparation for the announcement the scatty shrink realised he'd left the envelope with the result in it back at the counting desks. He scurried off, leaving the lone candidate waiting by herself on stage.

Her jaw muscles were sore from clenching her teeth together but she made an effort to maintain a neutral professional countenance. Her posture was stiff and even though it was not a particularly warm day, her suit was stifling. She forced herself not to wring her hands in public view. All eyes were on her, the crowd in front and below staring at her and chattering to their neighbours about inane things no doubt.

_What is taking that Cricket so long! How hard is it to keep track of a damn envelope. What the hell am I even doing up here anyway._

Regina derided her own foolish guile. Shortly she would have to bear the embarrassing news of being rejected by these peasants in front of the entire town. They were ready to revel in taking revenge upon her for cursing them and everything else she'd done. Every laugh in the crowd felt like a personal attack aimed at her. This was worse than a public execution in that she didn't even have the hope of a quick death to look forward to.

"Hi, Mom!" The crowd was too loud to hear the voice properly but Regina's eyes fell upon her son as he waved and called out to her. He looked so excited and happy, her regrets about running for Mayor were dashed instantly. She gave him a tight smile and a little wave in return.

When she saw Emma standing next to their son she was hit with a pang of amused pity. The poor dear looked as green as her food cravings had been when she was pregnant. Mary Margaret and David were there too, each with a supportive arm around their daughter. Regina suddenly realised that it was going to 'royally suck' as Em would have said to disappoint her family when they had such faith in her.

_Can't this humiliation just be over already!_

"Found it!" Archie jogged back up the steps to the podium to rejoin her. "It was in my pocket the whole time."

Regina wanted to strangle him. Don't do it, she told herself.

"How are you doing, Regina. All good?" said the doctor, his ongoing efforts to shrink her mind all too obvious. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Let's get it over with shall we." Regina said through gritted teeth, attempting to be polite.

Archie looked down and adjusted his glasses. "You ah, sound like you're waiting to be executed, not elected. Don't worry, no-one's going to die." His joke fell flat.

"Not yet," she muttered darkly.

Archie went to adjust the microphone's height and turned it on. He fiddled with it, sending irritating screeches through the speakers that making everyone wince and moan. The din of the crowd died down ready to hear the announcement.

"Hi everyone," said Archie, his voice coming out loud and clear now. "Thank you for coming and more importantly thank you taking the time out of this enjoyable day to cast your votes. If you didn't vote don't complain to the rest of us later if you don't like the outcome."

There was a pause to allow for laughter but no-one did.

"Wow, crickets. Anyway," Archie hopped on past the awkward moment. "I do want to say one thing before we move on. The curse wasn't the Evil Queen's fault it was our own."

A hum of shocked murmurs arose through the audience but at least he finally had their attention. It was lucky he was standing forward of Regina, unable to see her eyes narrow at him, wondering where he could possibly be going with this.

"All of us are guilty of the evil of inaction. We were given the rulers we deserved and we let ourselves be ruled by them. In the Enchanted Forest a young girl was forced into an unwanted marriage and we stood by, proclaiming ourselves innocent of any complicity in it. No-one tried to help her. When she grew up and cast the curse it was an injustice to us and we declared that she must have been born evil, rotten to the core. I think it's clear today by her example that everyone has the capacity to change. But what if we created the kind of world where she was never sent down that path in the first place?"

Regina wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. She went to stand beside Archie and leaned into the microphone to interrupt his philosophising. This was no time for moral discourse and she certainly didn't want the experiences of her youth held up as some kind of cautionary fable.

"Dr Hopper?" Regina glanced at the crowd conspiratorially. "Hurry up, please. Some of us want to go get toffee apples at the fair before they sell out."

The crowd laughed.

Dr Hopper nodded and adjusted his glasses with a smile before resuming his speech. "Very well. Normally this is the part where I'd congratulate all candidates on their hard work during the campaign but in this election the only candidate, Regina Mills, has always worked hard for the benefit of this town. Whatever the outcome of this election, on behalf of everyone here I'd like to thank Ms Mills for making Storybrooke the town it is today."

There was a polite smattering of applause.

Archie held up the envelope, opened it, and then removed a single slice of paper from within. He seemed to be taking a million years longer than necessary and Regina was dying to snatch the paper out of his hand.

"Oh," Archie cleared his throat as he read the handwritten outcome to himself. "I can honestly say this isn't what I expected."

Regina's heart sank. She was about three seconds from disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke so that she could go home and drown herself in apple cider or a hot bath, whichever came first. Why the shrink was prolonging her humiliation she had no idea. Maybe it was payback for all of the snark she'd delivered him over the years. If only she could fast forward time so that all this would be over already.

Dr Hopper was speaking to the crowd again but Regina was barely listening at this point. Immediate applause and cheers followed so she knew it'd gone against her. She had a sudden flashback to being tied to a stake and blindfolded ready to be shot to death with a dozen arrows as everyone jeered at her.

Archie turned to her. "Congratulations, Regina," he spoke normally, away from the microphone, giving her his personal message accompanied by a genuine smile. He offered his hand which she shook on autopilot. "You did it. You won."

Regina snapped out of her daze. "Wait, what?"

Archie leaned into the microphone to address the crowd. "People of Storybrooke, by popular vote, I give you your new Mayor. REGINA MILLS."

_No, it couldn't be… Could it?_

It didn't seem real.

Everything seemed to slow down and quieten as she saw Henry and Emma racing up the steps to the stage. Regina felt herself picked up by the waist and twirled around. An enormous cloud of relief came over her and then nothing else mattered. Her entire world was contained in two people who she made happy and that made her truly happy without reserve for the first time in her life.

* * *

_108 Mifflin Street, the porch_

It was nearly midnight but the fireworks at Town Hall were still going off.

Storybrooke's first annual Saviour Day had been a resounding success and the newly elected Mayor had endeared herself to many by using her magic to create fireworks as soon as the sky began to darken that evening. There was something about lighted rockets exploding into patterns across a black sky that brought people together, oohing and aahing.

Regina sat on the steps of the porch by herself watching the night sky. She still wore her skirt suit from earlier, legs crossed daintily at the ankles and an empty cider tumblr in her fingertips. She'd spent most of the day wishing it would go faster but now she wished it to slow down. The stillness of the cool night perfectly suited her contented mood.

The former Queen still couldn't believe she'd won the election. Archie had said that it had been a very close vote, meaning a significant proportion of the town voted against her, but no matter. She'd won and she had the rest of her next term to administrate her town as she saw fit. Even though she no longer sought revenge it was an undeniable thrill to triumph over those who hated her like the late Mrs Gander's cronies.

Henry had been so excited for his Mom. Her heart swelled and nearly burst with happiness at how proud she'd made him. No doubt he was still hyped up and awake over at the Meadows's house where he was having a sleepover with the twins. Hopefully they weren't rotting their teeth with too much candy from the fair.

The familiar sound of boots on the porch broke her reverie.

Emma sat down on the step beside her with a smirk and two flutes of champagne. "How do you feel about celebrating with a glass of bubbles, Madam Mayor?"

Regina put down her empty glass and accepted the refill. "Like someone's been looting my alcohol cabinet. I don't recall giving you a key."

"I don't need one, remember? I'm like Houdini. Besides, as if I could afford fancy french champagne like this on the pittance of a salary you pay me."

"I ought to pay you in bear claws and cut out the middleman."

Emma burst out laughing and clinked glasses with her. At the same time a circle of glowing gold sparks burst across the sky accompanying by a loud  _bang!_. But Regina only had eyes for the beautiful golden-haired Saviour. It pleased her to no end to see the former orphan smiling and laughing so openly on the steps of the home they were making together. The fact that Emma actually used the word 'home' to refer to 108 Mifflin St now was proof that she finally felt comfortable there.

After the election announcement the two of them had wandered around the fair with Henry and then headed to Granny's diner for dinner, the place where they'd had their first date in both timelines. The two Lucas women came over to congratulate Regina. Ruby, dressed in a skintight red number, started gushing to them about having a date with a woman named Dot whom she'd met at the fair.

Granny brought their meals with her usual lack of fanfare and commented on the new Mayor's victory. " _Congratulations. Your mother would have been proud."_

_Regina raised an eyebrow before contradicting the old widow who had known Cora for many years. "No, she wouldn't."_

" _Even better." Granny winked and then left for the kitchen._

Regina made a mental note to bring an extra basket of Honeycrisps for Granny this month. It was the least she could do for her former nursemaid.

It was true that Cora probably wouldn't have been thrilled by her daughter's democratic election, she saw power as something to be seized and wrested. She would have considered it weak to lay oneself open to the will of the fickle masses. So many of Regina's choices went against her mother's plans but at least her life was finally her own.

Regina felt that her father would have been happy for her. She was certain he would have loved Emma and his grandson. Daniel too - he was made of the same defiant moral fibre as Emma was - and wherever they were Regina hoped that her former fiance and her father were together.

 _BANG! BANG! BANG!_  Three aerial shells burst into a ring of red hearts in the sky.

Regina realised Emma was now staring back at her with a wry smile.

"I voted for you by the way," Emma teased her with the obvious. "Even though you didn't vote for me when I was running for Sheriff."

Regina scoffed. "That election was a sham. Besides, I  _did_  vote for you."

"You did not!" Emma gaped in disbelief. "Back then you hated me. You tried to get Sidney to take my job."

"What I did was give you an easy opponent whom no-one liked. A cuttlefish would have won against him. I basically rigged it in your favour."

"No way. You can't rewrite the past because you think it's more romantic. Did you really vote for me?"

"Yes." Regina shrugged one shoulder and looked down at her glass. "I wanted my town to have the protection it deserved. People really seemed to like the idea of someone willing to stand up to Mr Gold - including me. Even when we first met, you were a thorn in my side but I knew there was something about you that I wanted to keep near me. On some level I think I remembered you as Em, the teenage delinquent who stole my heart."

A thumb grazed her chin and gently tipped her face upwards. Emma leaned in to give her a soft kiss. She was going to pull away before Regina leaned in to recapture her lips in a deeper, more passionate way. A frisson of heat raced through her body. She could tell Emma was heating up to, judging by the response and soft moan as Regina threaded her fingers through the tangle of blonde curls at her neck.

At some point, Emma had untucked the new Mayor's blouse from her skirt and slid her arm up under it to caress the bare skin of her waist. Even when the kiss ended she kept her arm there, wrapped securely around her.

They sat there a while in a comfortable embrace, heads tipped together, watching and listening to the fireworks overhead.

"You will always have my vote for the job of hero, Emma."

"Nah, I'm not the hero here."

Regina rolled her eyes, thinking that her girlfriend was only being a sap and trying to butter her up for their later activities.

"You don't believe me? Ok, how do you know someone's the hero of the story. Usually they're the one with the sword or the cool magic and everyone else in the story falls over themselves to help them succeed in their quest to save the day. The good guys always win. Look back and you'll see it. This time the hero of the story was  _you_ , Regina."

"I'm no hero."

"Yeah, you are. Everyone thinks I'm the Saviour but it was you who saved Storybrooke:  _you_ made the True Love potion that broke the curse for good. The threat to the magic border and to everyone's memories is gone, and now there can be no more curses. You did that. Everyone's happy endings are returning - including ours."

The question niggled at the pit of Regina's belly, determined to be outed. Inside her Ri was begging her to remember her final wish for a happy ending. There was only one thing left to make it all perfect. But did she have the nerve to do it?

"Kathryn's engaged," Regina said, seemingly out of the blue.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, Mom told me. She said Kathryn wants you to be a bridesmaid and if you disagree they're both going to fight you on it."

"It would be nice if one day I get a choice about being part of a wedding." Regina frowned.

Emma squeezed her hand and gave her such a look of concern that Regina realised she must've betrayed more bitterness than she felt. In actuality she wouldn't mind standing up with her friend, it was a small deed in comparison to how much help Kathryn had given her with the campaign. But she couldn't help thinking about the question of her own happy ending whenever the topic came up though.

Regina shook her head once, as though clearing some memory cobwebs. "Sorry. It's fine. I'm happy to be in Kathryn's wedding."

"You alright with it?"

"Yes."

"Sure?"

" _Yes_ , Emma. I was just thinking..."

"About what?"

"You." Regina let her eyes wander over Emma's form settling on specific aspects that left no question about her intentions later. "Naked. Tied to my bed. Writhing in ecstasy underneath me, begging me to release your hands so that you can grip my hips as I ride you."

Emma just about choked. There was definitely some dirty flirting going on now. "Wow… uh, I hope you're going to kiss me with that dirty mouth."

"Only if you're good."

"Well,  _when_  you untie my hands I'm going to flip you over and show you just how good I am."

In the dim light, the Queen's eyes darkened before she grabbed Emma's face and pulled their lips together in a hard kiss. Already Emma was squirming, pressing her denim-clad thighs together, and it wasn't long before she managed to break the kiss.

"C'mon," Emma said breathlessly. "Let's go upstairs."

Then Emma grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet, ready to pull her through the mansion's front door.

"W-wait!" Regina faltered, her body screaming for her to let herself be taken to bed. But there was one thing she wanted to say to Emma first. One thing she wanted to ask. "This is where we first met. As adults, I mean. I felt something then. You remember?"

"Of course. How could I forget the day my whole life changed."

Emma waited, observant enough to realise that Regina was trying to tell her something. She held her hand tightly, letting her know she would wait and hear what she had to say. The world around them went quiet. The only thing Regina could hear was the hammering of her own heart in her throat.

"Emma Evelyn Swan," Regina started, her mouth instantly going dry with nerves. "Daughter of my enemies, pain in my ass, mother of my son. The Fates must've had a sense of humour when they made you my True Love. Twice I've fallen in love with you. I loved you in the past, I love you now, I'll love you forever."

Emma's eyes went wide for a second as she realised where this speech was heading. But she didn't want to run. All she did was take Regina's other hand so that she was now holding both as they trembled. Perhaps it was only wishful thinking, but it certainly felt like magic coursing between them.

"There's something I still wish for, something that I've wanted since I was a teenager. I wished back then to find True Love but now I want even more than that. I want you to formally adopt Henry, I want you to put your name on the deed to the house, and I want you to be my wife. Indeed, one day soon. Will you marry me?"

Emma nodded hurriedly and blurted out her answer. "Yes."

"Yes?" Regina let out the breath she'd been holding and nodded too. They both began to smile giddily, only stopping to laugh and kiss each other's lips.

And the princess and the queen lived happily ever after.

* * *

**EPILOGUE, some time later**

In the middle of the night Regina bolted upright in bed. The mansion was cool and quiet, Henry slept down the hall undisturbed. She reached over to the snoozing lump underneath the covers next to her and shook her awake. "Emma, Emma.  _Miss Swan!_ "

Emma groaned, still half asleep. "Wha-? 's not my name n' more," she complained.

"There's still something wrong in town!"

"Mmgh?"

"We figured out how our teenage selves got here and what was happening with the shrinking border. But there's one thing that's still unaccounted for… the clocktower! It's still hasn't come back according to Belle. It disappeared and it was the first hint we had that something was wrong in town."

"Yeah, that was me."

"What?!"

"I made the clocktower disappear. I told you I'm like Houdini."

Regina stared at her wife, wondering whether she was full of shit. The teenage catchphrase had led to them both getting into trouble more than once, but that was long ago now. Emma rolled over, her messy blonde curls surrounding her head on the pillow, and even with the lights off she could see blue eyes waking up with a hint of mischief.

Regina narrowed her gaze, squinting in the dark. "But I specifically remember you saying that you didn't do it. You freaked out because everyone we asked couldn't even remember the clock being there in the first place and we thought everyone was losing their memories. It wasn't just some illusion, it was real."

"Nah," Emma sat up lazily, reaching out to graze the back of her fingers down her wife's bare arm. "We only asked people that I had previously coached to say exactly what I wanted them to say. Archie and Marco, Mary Margaret and David. When I told them my plan to annoy you everyone jumped on board."

"You did it to annoy me? But you knew it wasn't true and it only confused matters. Why would you do that."

"Because." Emma shrugged, becoming increasingly smug. "When I was worried about the future getting wrecked and stuff starting to disappear, you thought I was being stupid. You thought I only had rinky-dink little magic powers whereas you're the big badass Evil Queen. So I decided to play a little trick on you and show you what I can do. Obviously it worked. I told you you didn't know what I was capable of.  _Now_  do you believe how awesome my powers are?"

"I can't tell if you're serious or legitimately insane. Couch for a week."

Emma groaned and let herself fall back onto the bed. "Geez, I'll put it back ok. Stupid clock."

"You'd better. I don't appreciate anyone messing with my town. Even you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally finished! This is the last chapter of this story but it's very long so hopefully that will make up for the eternity of the wait between chapters. When I started this I had no idea of what it would become and I had every intention of finishing in a more timely manner (sadly those plans went out the window). I procrastinated too much about the ending because I wanted it to be perfect but now I just want to click the Complete button. I've poured so much love (and tears at times) into this story and I'm kinda proud of what I've managed to create here.
> 
> Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who read, followed, and supported this story in reviews, comments, and on tumblr. You guys have no idea how much it helped me as a writer and saved me from the upsets of whatever the latest fandom fuckery was. Massive thanks to all of the amazing artists on tumblr who made fanart! The SQ fandom is the most talented and creative one I've ever been a part of.
> 
> Finally I'd like to say that SQ fans have been treated shabbily over the years by the showrunners and in the general fandom. I stopped watching a while ago. But this ship is OUR STORY and it's a thousand times better than what they managed.


End file.
